


The Billionaire and The Mechanic

by AverageMarvelBitch



Series: Stony Shorts [10]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Billionaire Steve, F/M, Happy Ending, M/M, Mechanic Tony, angst with fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2020-04-07 00:58:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19074250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AverageMarvelBitch/pseuds/AverageMarvelBitch
Summary: Steve is a billionaire who worked hard to get where he is. He meets Tony, the mechanic, and falls in love faster than he ever thought possible. But Tony has some issues to work through, and some secrets he's clearly not ready to share, and Steve's friends, ever so overprotective, are not really trusting of this strange mechanic who seems to have the billionaire wrapped around his little finger.They soon find out that loving someone isn't always easy, but it might be worth it in the end.





	1. Chapter 1

 

The car had broken down in the middle of an empty street. His cell phone was dead. And there was a storm outside, because _of course_ there was.

Steve slammed his hands on the wheel, shouting some words that would’ve made his ma wash his mouth with soap. _Can this day get any worse_ , he thought to himself and quickly shook his head, scolding himself for even thinking it because the last thing he needed was the universe to take it as a dare.

He looked around, trying to see through the heavy rain. He couldn’t call his driver to come pick him up, so maybe he could find a payphone he could use or hopefully some store that was still open. He squinted his eyes, trying to read a sign that he was pretty sure said ‘mechanic’ not too far away from where he was. Resigned, Steve looked down at his expensive Armani suit and sighed, getting out of the car.

He pushed the old car through the rain, getting absolutely soaked in the process, and cursing all the way to the car shop. He pushed the car inside the open garage and tried to shake himself dry, like a big wet dog.

“Hey, hey, Mr. San Bernardo, quit getting my nice clean floor all wet”, said a voice in front of him in a joking tone.

Steve, who had his head bent forward, shaking his hair his hands in an attempt to dry his hair, quickly looked up, a very rude answer already on the tip of his tongue when he stopped in his tracks. He stared at the beautiful man in front of him, his mouth agape, looking like a complete idiot.

“Uh, are you alright?” the brunette asked, confused.

 _Snap out of it_ , his brain screamed at him. “Uh, yes, sorry about the mess, it’s raining cats and dogs out there”.

“Raining cats and dogs? Who even says that?” the other man laughed, cleaning his hands on a dirty rag before throwing it at a nearby table, “So, what happened?” he asked, nodding his head in the direction of the car.

“I’m not sure, it just stopped working. This car is a piece of crap”.

“Shhh, it can hear you”, the mechanic replied, caressing its hood like it was a prized possession, “How old is it?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s from the 70s. It belongs to a friend of mine, he’s traveling so he asked me to take it back to my house. You know, keep it safe”.

“Gotcha. Well, I’m going to take a look under the hood to see what’s happening. But before that… Wait here”, he said, leaving through a door on his right.

Steve stood there, unsure on what to do. He was shivering, his teeth clattering from the cold. He hated the cold. It reminded him too much of a time when he and his ma would sit in a freezing living room, trying ― and failing ― to keep each other warm under old, torn blankets the church had given them. He didn’t have much time to dwell on memories, though, because soon enough the mechanic came back, a change of clothes in his hands.

“Here, you can change into this if you want. My friend, Rhodey, left them here last time he came over. At least this way you won’t freeze”.

“Thanks, I… I appreciate it”, Steve replied, taking the clothes.

“There’s a bathroom right there, you can change there”.

“Thanks. Uh, I’m Steve, by the way”.

“Tony”.

Steve nodded with a smile, before turning his back and going to the bathroom to change, completely missing the way Tony checked him out when he did.

 

Steve came out of the bathroom a few minutes later wearing a Star Wars t-shirt (“I would make a Star Wars pun but I don’t want to _force it_ ” written in bright yellow letters) and a pair of dark blue jeans. He noticed the way Tony looked at him and smiled to himself. _Good to know I still got it_ , he thought, walking towards the mechanic.

“So, what’s wrong with it?”

“To be honest, this whole car is all wrong”.

“Told you it was a piece of crap”, Steve said, looking smug.

“It’s not a piece of crap. It’s just old and tired. I can make it work, though. You can pick it up tomorrow at four pm”.

“Great. Uh, do you mind if I use your phone to call for a ride? Mine is dead”.

“Damn”, Tony laughed, fishing his phone from his pocket and giving it to Steve, “You’re really having a bad day, uh”.

“It had some good moments”, Steve replied, pointedly looking at Tony, who blushed again.

It took his driver twenty five minutes to get to the car shop, which was great because it gave Steve some time to get to know Tony. Apparently, the brunette wasn’t just a mechanic, but also a recently graduated MIT engineer. He had opened the shop not too long ago with the help of a friend. Paying rent wasn’t easy these days, he said, but business was getting better so he had high hopes for the future.

When Happy, his driver, finally arrived, Steve already fancied himself half in love with the mechanic. The rain had stopped, so Tony walked the blonde outside, standing on the sidewalk as he got into the car.

“I’ll send someone to pick up the car tomorrow”, he said, before closing the door, “And maybe after I could take you to dinner? You know, as a thank you for the clothes. And for lending me your phone”.

Tony smiled. “You know what, I’d like that”.

“I’ll pick you up at seven, then”.

“Seven it is”.

And so, giving Tony one last smile, Steve closed his door and gave Happy the word to start driving. _Turns out this was a good day after all,_ he thought, feeling happier than he remembered being in a very long time.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Tony go out on a date.

Steve was happy. Happier than he had been in a very long time and it was clear everyone else had noticed it as well.

He had woken up that morning with a smile on his face, thinking about his date with Tony. In fact, he had gone to sleep the night before thinking about the handsome mechanic and, even though he didn’t quite remember dreaming, he would bet half his fortune that Tony had been on his mind all night long.

“We’re in a very good mood today, uh boss?”, Happy asked, looking at Steve through the rear view mirror.

“A very good mood, Happy”, he replied while searching for the best five stars restaurants in New York.

Steve always greeted everyone who worked for him on his way up to his office, from the doorman and security guard to his secretary and the intern who brought him coffee. That day was no exception. He smiled at them, asking about their families and their work, smiling when one of the guards, Wade, showed him some pictures of his newly born baby girl. When he finally arrived at his office, he asked Maria, his secretary, to please send flowers to the address he had just texted her.

She looked surprised for a second, but hid it quickly, “And the card? What should it say?”

Steve thought for a moment, before smiling, “I am counting the hours to see you. No, wait”, he said when Maria turned to leave, “that’s too much, I think. Maybe… ‘A thank you for being the one good thing in an otherwise shitty day’. How’s that?”

“So romantic”, Maria replied deadpanned, turning her back at him to leave.

The rest of the morning went by without too much trouble. At first, he tried to concentrate on his work, but failed miserably and quickly gave up, focusing all of his attention on making sure his date with Tony was the best the mechanic had ever had. He made reservations to the best and most expensive restaurant he could find. Then, he called Happy and told him to buy a box of Swiss chocolates. Steve was in the middle of deciding whether he should rent a limousine or not when Bucky came in, looking sly.

“A little bird told me you ordered some flowers today”.

“Was that little bird my very bigmouthed secretary?”

“No, it was Natasha, actually. But I’m guessing she got it from Hill, yeah”, Bucky explained, sitting on one of the chairs and putting his feet up on Steve’s desk, which earned him a very pointed, annoyed look, “So, are you going to tell me about this mysterious person you’re sending flowers to?”

“I met him yesterday. I was taking Clint’s car home and it broke…”

Bucky snorted. “What else is new”.

“… And there was a car shop nearby. That’s where I met him. His name is Tony”.

“Tony, huh. Is he hot?”

“He’s amazing, actually”, Steve replied, unable to keep himself from smiling. He looked up and frowned when he noticed the serious look on his best friend’s face, “what?”

“You’re doing it again. Falling head over heels over someone you’ve barely met. Look, I’m all for you meeting new people and dating. God knows you need to get laid. But you need to go slowly, okay? One step at a time”.

“So, what you’re saying is… No limo?”

Bucky shook his head, laughing. “Yes, punk, no limo. And don’t shower this guy with gifts either. You remember what happened the last time, right? With…”

“Yeah, I remember”, Steve immediately cut him off, waving his hand.

“Sorry. But hey, all I’m saying is take it slow, ok?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I will”.

“Cool. So, you wanna get lunch? You’re paying”.

“I always pay, you jerk”, Steve replied, already getting up and following his friend to the door.

“Punk. Just for that, I’m ordering extra fries today”.

* * *

Tony was sitting on his sofa, fully dressed and ready for his date. He was staring at the big bouquet of flowers and the box of Swiss chocolate, which cost more than his rent and he knew that because he had googled it and had almost fallen from his chair when he saw the price. But they were good. God, they were really good. He’d had one right after the very grumpy driver had delivered them and they simply melted in his mouth, the perfect combination of sweet and bitter. He’d eaten half the box already.

When the flowers and the chocolate had arrived, Tony couldn’t help but smile. He was touched that Steve had gone through all this trouble for him. In fact, he couldn’t remember any of his past dates doing something so nice as to send him gifts before a date. But then again, he hadn’t exactly dated nice people back in the day. He shuddered just thinking about them. Rhodey had always said he had the worst taste in romantic partners, but Tony really _really_ hoped that this time would be different.

The mechanic jumped off the couch as soon as the doorbell rang, smiling when he saw Steve’s face on the small screen. He pressed the button and said _be right down_ , not even waiting for a response as he grabbed his jacket and closed the door to his shophouse, running down the stairs to meet his date. He opened the door downstairs with a smile, stepping outside. Steve was smiling as well, but he looked nervous. It was adorable.

“Hey, Tony. How are you?”

“Hi, Steve. I’m great. Thanks for the flowers and the chocolate, by the way. It was very thoughtful”.

“You liked them?”

“I loved them”, Tony replied, locking his door, “Best chocolates I ever had, to be honest”.

“Good. I’m glad you like them. So, shall we?” Steve asked, gesturing towards the car. And that’s when Tony immediately stopped, staring at the very expensive, very beautiful car.

“Wow. That’s… That’s an amazing car”, he said, very aware of how uncomfortable he sounded.

Steve looked confused. “Uh, yeah. I thought you would appreciate it, you know, being a mechanic and well”.

“Yeah, yeah, of course, it’s amazing”.

But Tony still didn’t sound too sincere. He looked at the car in awe, as if he very much wanted to touch it, but was too afraid to do it. Steve quickly opened the door for him, helping Tony inside.

“You look incredible, Tony”.

That seemed to bring the mechanic back from whatever thoughts were going through his head and he smiled, blushing. “Thanks. You too”.

Steve smiled before closing the door and jogging to the other side, getting in the car and starting it. The sound of the engines made whimper quietly.

“Are you okay?” Steve asked, worried.

“Yeah. Sorry, it’s just… This is a really amazing car”, he replied, sounding more sincere, “So, where are we going?”

“Oh, it’s a great restaurant. You like French cuisine?”

“Uh, sure, yeah”.

“Then you’re going to love this place”.

 

The restaurant, as it turned out, was on the sixty-fourth floor of one of the most beautiful buildings in New York. Tony had been there before, once with his parents and twice with one of his ex-boyfriends. He felt a pang of sorrow strike his chest like a knife. This, all of this, was a reminder of a life he had left behind, a life that had hurt him and left him broken on the ground. His thoughts were taking a dark turn and his face must’ve been showing it because Steve’s smiled disappeared the minute he turned to look at Tony.

“Is this… Do you want to go somewhere else? There’s another restaurant nearby that we can go…”

“No, no”, the mechanic immediately said, trying to reassure Steve with a smile, “I’m sorry, I was just surprised. Come on, let’s eat”.

Steve nodded, still looking unsure as they entered the elevator. The restaurant’s hostess, a pretty strawberry blond that vaguely reminded Tony of Pepper, greeted them as soon as they showed up at the door. She had a big, welcoming smile and took them to a table outside. The place was completely empty, which intrigued Tony.

“Is there no one else here?” he asked, looking around as they walked outside.

“The restaurant is all yours tonight”, the hostess replied with a smile, “Mr. Rogers called ahead and asked us to book the whole place”.

Tony let out a soft _oh_ and smiled awkwardly at Steve as the blond pulled the chair for him. They sat down at the table outside and the mechanic took a moment to admire the beautiful view they had of the city before accepting a menu from the hostess.

“I’ll give you two a moment to decide. Shall I bring you something to drink?”

“Would you like some wine?” Steve asked.

“Just water for me, please”, Tony replied.

“The same for me”, and, with that, the hostess quickly left.

“So…”, Steve said, unsure of himself, “I have to confess, I haven’t done this in a while.

“What, eating dinner? It’s very easy, you take the food with the fork and put it in your mouth, then you chew and swallow”, the mechanic joked, looking at Steve over the menu he held, smiling.

“That’s real funny, but I actually meant the dating part”.

“Really? Why?”

“Well, when I was younger, I was small and sickly and no one wanted anything to do with me. I wasn’t exactly people’s first choice for romance, you know”.

“That’s hard to believe”, Tony replied, closing the menu and looking intently at his date, “You’re every man’s, and woman’s, wet dream”.

“That’s flattering. But, yeah, I wasn’t always like this. I met someone on my twenties and she was my first love. We didn’t work out and after her I just never really cared much about dating”.

“Until me”, the mechanic said, looking smug.

Steve smiled. “Until you”.

Eventually, the waitress came to bring their water and take their orders. Tony chose the salmon while Steve ordered the steak. When she left, they returned to their conversation.

Tony told Steve about college and how his parents had died in a car crash on the same day he had presented his thesis for his PhD. He told him that he had very much wanted to start a second PhD, but was unable to because he didn’t have the money to pay for it. So he had left MIT and opened the auto shop with the help of two very good friends.

In return, Steve told Tony about his mother, her cancer and how he had joined the Army right after her death. He told him about Bucky and the people he had met in Afghanistan: Sam and Nat. He told him about everything he had lived there with them and how they had been giving honorable discharges after a very ugly mission that had taken three of their fellow soldiers and one of Bucky’s arms.

Soon, the waitress brought them their plates and they ate and talked and laughed all night long. And, for a few hours, Tony forgot about all his insecurities and his doubts and just let himself enjoy Steve’s company.

It was almost midnight when they finally arrived at the auto shop. Steve got out of the car and opened the door for Tony, walking with him to the door.

“I had a great time. Thank you”.

“Tony? Can I ask you something?”

“Sure”.

“I noticed that you were a bit uncomfortable sometimes tonight. Was it something I did?”

Tony took a deep breath, looking away from Steve, unable to meet his eyes. “It’s complicated”.

Steve took his hand, touching Tony’s face slightly, turning it so they could look into each other’s eyes. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me, but… I really like you and, if you’d be willing to do this again, then I’d like to know. So I can work on whatever it is”.

“I… I have a bad history with rich people”, Tony replied in a whisper and then laughed bitterly, “I went out with this guy. His name was Tiberius and he was kind of a dick. And it’s not even just him, it’s… Every rich person I know only cares about one thing: money. And you seem like a nice guy, Steve, but so did they and I’m just… not sure what to think about this”.

 “Oh. I thought you just weren’t a fan of expensive things”.

“Shit, no. I mean, I love expensive things. Who doesn’t like chocolate that melts in your mouth? Or fast cars and awesome food? Who doesn’t like to be showered with gifts? I like expensive shit just fine, it’s just… I don’t know”.

“I understand. I know my word won’t mean much to you, but I promise you, Tony, I’m not like that. I worked really hard to have everything I have and, to be honest, I like using my money to make the people around me happy. But I can dial down a little bit if you think that would help. Just give me a chance to prove to you that I’m different from these people you’ve met before. Please”.

Tony looked away for a second, deep in thought. On one hand, Steve did seem like a great guy. On the other, the mechanic had been very wrong about this sort of thing before. He looked into Steve’s eyes and, for a moment, all he saw was sincerity and affection. And in that moment he made his decision. He stood on his toes, putting his hands on Steve’s neck and pulling him down for a kiss. The blond wasted no time, pressing the smaller man against the door as they kissed.

“Would you like to come inside?” Tony asked with a hoarse voice, his eyes full of desire as he looked at Steve.

“Are you sure?” Steve asked, completely out of breath.

“Yes. I’m very sure”.

“Okay”.

And with that, Steve grabbed Tony’s ass, pulling him up as the mechanic put his legs around his waist, both of them stumbling up the stairs amidst moans and laughs.

There was still a lot to discuss, and Tony’s doubts hadn’t been completely wiped out, but, for the time being, the mechanic decided to forget his shitty past and let himself enjoy the very pleasant present. Whatever the future held, he would deal with it later.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after.
> 
> Warning: some sex talk. Not too graphic, imo, but some people don't like that stuff so be warned.

Tony smelled coffee. He slowly opened his eyes, blinking. The other side of the bed was empty, but it was very much obvious that it had been occupied before. He smiled as he remembered the events of the night before. The way Steve had worshipped his body, his mouth slowly discovering every inch of him, his hands memorizing every curve. The young mechanic had been with his fair share of partners, men and women alike, but he could safely say that none of them had ever pulled him apart like Steve had. He had fallen right asleep after hours and hours of lovemaking, too satisfied and tired to stay awake any longer. He could still feel the delicious ache in his body as he moved on the bed, stretching his arms and legs like a cat.

“Good morning”, a voice spoke from the door.

Tony looked up and smiled. Steve was wearing nothing but a pair of black boxers, holding a steaming cup of coffee.

“Oh, it’s a _very_ good morning”, Tony said pointedly looking at Steve’s crotch, “Would be even better if you were naked and in bed with me”.

Steve smiled and sat down next to the mechanic, offering him the cup, “But on the bright side, I made coffee”.

“That’s the only reason I’m forgiving you, Rogers”.

Tony drank the coffee slowly, moaning when the delicious liquid finally touched his tongue, burning his throat as it went down. Steve adjusted his legs, clearly uncomfortable as his dick sprung to life again.

“I’m late for work”, the blonde said.

Tony put the cup on the nightstand after finishing it and turned around. “Will you get into trouble? You could call in sick or something”.

“Nah, no trouble. I’m the boss”.

“Well, then, since you’re the boss”, Tony replied in a low tone, climbing into Steve’s lap and rubbing himself against the taller man, making him moan softly, “I’m sure you can stay for a few more hours, right?”

“I’m never late for work”, Steve tried to reason, but completely lost his trail of thought when he felt Tony’s hot mouth on his neck, his tongue slowly going up to his ear just as the mechanic’s hand found his dick under the black boxers.

“How about half an hour more and then we take a shower?” the mechanic whispered in his ear.

Steve wasted no more time and quickly threw Tony back on the bed, completely forgetting all about work and tardiness as he devoured the mechanic’s mouth.

* * *

He had fifteen missed calls, ten from Bucky and five from Maria. He knew he was about to get an earful from both of them, especially from his best friend, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. He was happy. No, scratch that, he was… Well, Clint would probably describe it as “so happy you’re probably shitting rainbows”, which, truth be told, was a very apt description of how he felt at the moment. He couldn’t stop smiling. He also couldn’t stop thinking about Tony and their night together. And their morning together. And the shower they took together. And the very heated make out session right before Steve left, which almost turned into a christening of the kitchen table. And then the stairs.

Steve felt like a teenager all over again, falling in love for the first time. He knew he had a tendency to fall fast ― Bucky had reminded him of that so many times throughout the years ―, but this time, it felt different. It felt so different from every other time he had fallen for someone. He couldn’t explain it, couldn’t put it in words, but he knew. He knew Tony would be his last love.

By the time Steve finally arrived at SHIELD, it was almost lunch time since the promised half hour and shower had somehow turned into three hours of pure bliss for both parties. Hill was waiting for him by the door, looking ready to murder someone. He looked at her sheepishly.

“Where were you?” she hissed, following Steve inside his office.

“It’s personal. I didn’t have any meetings, did I?”

“No. But still, it would be nice to be warned. I’ve worked here for ten years, Steve, and not ONCE were you late for work. As a matter of fact, you’ve never even called in sick! So forgive me for worrying!”

This time, Steve looked properly apologetic. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I should have called”.

“Or texted”.

“Or texted. Is there anything that needs my attention right now?”

Hill huffed, quickly adjusting her expression to a more professional one. “No, nothing at the moment. You do have three very important meetings later, one of them with General Ross. You might want to prepare”.

“I will. Thank you, Maria”.

With a nod, Hill left the office, closing the door behind her. Steve, then, took his phone from his pocket and quickly sent a text to his mechanic.

_> >I can’t wait until Friday._

The answer came after just a few seconds.

_< <You literally just left my house. You are insatiable, Rogers. Also, I’m very impressed with your refractory period. Five times in two hours, how the hell is that possible?_

Steve snorted and let his finger hover over the phone for a moment before replying.

_> >I volunteered for a super secret government project and they injected me with a super serum that gave some extraordinary abilities such as superhuman strength, superhuman speed and a dick that won’t quit._

_< <Give me their number. My ass would like to send them a mini muffin basket as thanks._

_< <Okay, I actually need to work now, even though I’m walking like a fucking penguin thanks to you. Talk to you later, handsome._

Steve didn’t have time to reply, however, because his door suddenly opened with a loud _bang_ , and Bucky walked in, looking livid.

“Dude, what the hell?”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry”.

“Fuck, Stevie, we’ve been worried sick about your sorry ass. Where the hell were you?”

“You know, I am a grown man who can take care of himself”, Steve replied, rolling his eyes.

“You’re a dumbass who has no sense of self-preservation”, Bucky corrected him, sitting on one of the chair. “So, I’m guessing the date went well”.

“It did”, he answered simply, not really wanting to give his best friend many details.

“You dog. So, Nat wants to double date…”

Steve vehemently shook his head, “NOPE. No, no way, not gonna happen”.

“Why the ever loving fuck not? Are you embarrassed of us or something?”, Bucky asked, feigning offense.

“I know you two. You’re way too overprotective. You’re going to use this date to dig dirt on him and psychoanalyze him and scare him away. I like him, Bucky”.

“Come on, punk, we’re not gonna do that, okay? I promise. Nat and I will be on our best behavior”, he promised, crossing his heart, “So will Sam, Clint and Coulson”, he whispered right after.

“Oh, so it’s not a double date, you’re full on ganging on him”, Steve said, exasperated.

“We’ll be nice. Come on, man, we wanna meet this mechanic who’s got you by the balls after _one_ date”.

Steve looked at his best friend with a frown and then shook his head, resigned. “Fine”, he said, and Bucky punched the air with a soft _yeah_ , “but if you guys scare him away, I swear, Bucky, I’m going to kill all of you”.

“Yeah, okay. Clint comes back next week so we’ll do it then”.

“Fine. Now, I need to prepare for my meetings. Hill booked Stane and Hammer this afternoon to pitch their weapons”.

“Hammer tech is crap, man”, Bucky complained, getting up.

“Yeah, but he wouldn’t shut up about his goddamn new guns at the fundraiser so I told Hill we’d give him a chance. But, to be fair, Stane isn’t much better lately”.

“Yeah, I know. Howard Stark was the brains behind the weapons, right? Makes sense that after his death they’d be out of good ideas”, Bucky explained, shrugging.

“I don’t know. Fury knew him, said the guy was losing his mind. Too much scotch, apparently. If he really was as bad as Fury made him to be, then it’s hard to believe he was the genius behind R&D”, Steve took a deep breath, reading over some papers on his desk, “Okay, I need to read this now. Come back at 3pm if you want to see the weapons for yourself, okay?”

“Sure. Oh, and, Stevie?”, Bucky called from the door, with an innocent expression, “What’s your boyfriend’s name again?”

“He’s not my boyfriend, Buck. Yet”.

“Name, jackass”.

“Tony Carbonell”, Steve replied with a suffering sigh, “his name is Tony Carbonell”.

“Cool. See you later, punk”.

“Jerk”, Steve replied softly under his breath, turning all his concentration back to the papers in front of him and trying not to lose himself on thoughts of Tony. Friday night couldn’t come fast enough.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony meets Steve's friends and things don't go so well

It was past eight when Steve finally managed to leave the office, tired and angry. His meetings had been a complete disaster and his head hurt from spending so much time with such egotistical, selfish people who cared about nothing but money. It never ceased to amaze him how awful these rich types could be. _Maybe Tony is right_ , he thought to himself as he got in the car, slamming the door with a little bit more force than planned, _maybe money really does turn people into fucking assholes_. He sat there for a moment, hands on the wheel, just staring at nothing. A few weeks ago, after such an awful day, Steve would want nothing more than to go home, take a long, relaxing shower and just fall asleep watching old cartoons. That night, though, he found that his usual plans didn’t sound as good as they’d have weeks before. In that moment, all he could think about was burying his nose in Tony’s neck and holding him close. If he closed his eyes, he could almost smell the musky scent mixed with the accentuated smell of metal that exuded from the mechanic’s skin.

He opened his eyes slowly and found himself gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Would it be too weird if he called Tony and asked to come over? They had talked about meeting on Friday because of Steve’s busy schedule, but… he honestly didn’t think he could wait until then. Maybe he shouldn’t. They’d been on one date so far and maybe calling today, just to sleep over, would give Tony the wrong impression and he certainly didn’t want that. The mechanic was special and Steve wanted to make sure he knew just how special he was to him. So, with a heavy sigh, he decided to just send him a text saying goodnight. He didn’t expect, however, to find an unread text from Tony on his cell phone. The message brought a huge smile on his face.

_< <So, I don’t usually do this, but screw the rules. I miss you. Come over?_

_> >Coming right now._

 

Soon enough, Steve was spending more time at Tony’s than at his own apartment. It had become such a common occurrence that every day he would tell Happy to pack him a small bag with necessities like clothes, shoes and a toothbrush. He’d leave the office early whenever he could and go straight to Tony’s, where they’d shower together until all the hot water was gone and then eat dinner, talking about their day and their past and whatever they felt like it. Sometimes, they’d cook. Steve was a great cook, thanks to his ma who’d taught him everything he knew. Tony wasn’t all that great, but he was eager to learn. While cooking, they’d drink a glass of wine and feed each other pieces of whatever they were making. They’d laugh, kiss, and occasionally make out and forget something in the stove, almost causing a fire. It was fun, it was easy, and Steve loved every second of it, which was precisely why he was so damn worried about Tony meeting his friends.

Steve loved his friends. They were his family, the only one he had. They had been together for years now, always helping each other through the tough times and celebrating together when life was going right. He loved them, he really did. But Steve also knew them very well, he knew just how protective they were of him and he was terrified of what they’d do to Tony when they finally had him at their mercy. He knew they meant well, but… God, Steve liked Tony. In fact, he was pretty sure he was very much in love with the mechanic already. Even the thought of losing him made his insides twist in an agonizing way. The uncomfortable feeling must have shown on his face, because he soon felt Tony’s hand softly touching his leg.

“Hey, handsome. You okay?”

Steve forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just nervous”, he replied without taking his eyes off the road.

“Look, I know I’m probably not what your friends are used to, but I can play the part with the rich kids. Trust me”, Tony said in a mocking tone, although Steve was sure he could hear some apprehension on his voice.

“Sweetheart, you’re perfect. I’m not worried about that, I’m worried that they’ll eat you alive. My friends tend to be a bit… overprotective”.

“I get it. My friend, Rhodey, the one I told you about, he’s very protective of me too”.

Steve parked the car right outside the bar, still looking worried. “Just stay close to me, okay? And if they make you even a little bit uncomfortable, you tell me and we’ll get the hell out, okay?”

Tony laughed. “Okay. I have to say, I’m a little relieved”.

“Relieved?”

Tony shrugged, smiling. “At first I thought maybe you were embarrassed of me. You know, introducing the mechanic to your rich friends”.

Steve shook his head. He took Tony’s hand in his and kissed his knuckles. “You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met. I could never be ashamed of you. Never”, he promised.

Steve and Tony entered the bar hand in hand. The blonde looked around for his friends and found them sitting on a big table in the back, Bucky waving his hands like a lunatic. Steve squeezed Tony’s hand, sending him a reassuring, although strained, smile. The mechanic smiled back at him, leaving a quick kiss on his shoulder before they made their way to the back of the bar. All conversation stopped as soon as they got close.

“Hey, guys. This is Tony Carbonell. Tony, this is everyone”.

A chorus of _heys_ and _hellos_ came soon after.

“Nice to meet you, Tony. I’m Clint and this is my husband, Phil”, the blonde man introduced himself, pulling his husband, an older man with brown hair, by the shoulders.

“This is Sam”, Steve said, gesturing to the dark skinned man, who promptly raised his beer in reply, “And these are Bucky and Natasha”.

“I gotta say, it’s nice to finally meet the guy who had my friend by the balls after just one date”, Bucky said, throwing his arm on Natasha’s shoulder. He looked relaxed, too relaxed.

Steve threw his friend a warning look. “Bucky…”

“Yeah, yeah”, he replied, “sit down, Tony. Hey, Steve, why don’t you go get your man a drink?”

“Actually, I was about to go there right now, so, Tony, what’s your poison?” Sam immediately chimed in, getting up.

“Uh, I’ll have a gin and tonic, please”.

“So, Tony, tell us a little bit about yourself”, Natasha asked, taking a sip from her drink.

“Well, I’m a mechanic…”

“That’s nice, that’s nice”, Bucky said in a tone that clearly meant it was not nice at all.

“… and I recently graduated MIT Summa Cum Laude. I was about to start my second PhD, but my parents died so I had to quit”.

A heavy silence fell on the table as they glanced at each other, unsure of what to say. Steve, who knew exactly what Tony was doing, smirked at his lover, his eyes full of mirth.

“But enough sad stories, tell me more about you guys. Steve talks a lot about you”, Tony added after a while, accepting the drink Sam had just handed to him.

Bucky was surprisingly well behaved after the whole “dead parents” incident. For hours, they shared stories, mostly about Steve’s childhood and army years and how they had all met.

“We met when we were kids. Stevie over there was my neighbor and he had the very bad habit of getting into fights he couldn’t possibly win. I had to save his skinny ass more times than I can count”.

“Skinny ass?” Tony had asked between laughs.

“Yep. He was half the size he is today, all bones and asthma”.

“We met at the army”, Natasha told him after, sipping her drink, “He was my Captain and one of the few men who didn’t treat me like I didn’t belong there”.

“We met at the VA. Bucky was getting his robotic arm; SI was choosing some candidates for it. He was the only one who actually passed the trials”.

At this point, Tony choked on his drink. “Your arm is Stark Tech?”

“Yep. Pretty good, too. But they shelved the program when it became Stane Industries. In fact, they shelved every single program that didn’t have weapons in it”, Bucky explained, flexing his metal arm, “I was lucky to get one before they did. It could use an update, but at least it’s still working”.

“I could take a look at that for you”, Tony offered, making Bucky freeze on the spot. “Improve it, if you want. My PhD is actually in robotics so…”

Bucky hesitated for a moment and Tony could swear he was going to say yes, but seemed to change his mind.

“That’s ok. It’s not giving me any trouble, so it’s fine”.

A loud buzzing sound interrupted the conversation. Steve took his phone out of his pocket and cursed loudly.

“Shit, I have to take this”.

“Go ahead”, Tony replied, touching his arm in reassurance.

“Come with me, it’ll only be a minute”, he whispered back to his lover.

“Steve, go! It’s fine. Trust me, I’ve had worse than overprotective friends asking intrusive questions”.

Steve still looked unsure, but in the end just took a deep breath, nodding to Tony. “Okay”, he got up, answering the cell phone while mouthing an angry _behave_ at Bucky and Natasha.

“Ok, mechanic, so what’s your deal?” Bucky asked as soon as Steve was out of earshot, his eyes darkening all of a sudden, losing all the playfulness that had been there before.

“What’s my deal?”

“Yes. Let’s start with your name, shall we? Because we checked with some friends and Tony Carbonell doesn’t exist”, Natasha replied, looking untroubled as she sipped the rest of her drink.

Tony, on the other hand, was anything but calm. In fact, he was terrified. He couldn’t tell them the truth because, if he did, he’d have to explain a lot of things from his past that he was definitely not comfortable talking yet. Or, even worse, they could turn on him and tell Obie where he was, which would be a complete disaster. He took a deep breath, trying to come up with a plausible lie.

“I’m sorry, you _checked with some friends_ and they said I don’t exist?”

“Our friends work for the FBI”, Natasha explained, “If they say you don’t exist then you don’t exist”.

Tony looked around the table. Clint and Phil were staring at him intently, clearly waiting for an answer. Sam, on the other hand, was looking down on his drink as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. The young mechanic felt trapped, like a wild animal locked in a small room. Before he could answer, though, Steve showed up and, probably sensing the tension, cursed loudly, glaring at his friends.

“Seriously? I leave for five minutes!”

“I’m sorry, Stevie. But Greg checked their database for an Anthony Carbonell and the only one he found was some Italian rich type who died before this kid was even born. So, forgive us for being overprotective of you, but this piece of shit is lying to you about who he is”.

Steve faltered for a second and looked at Tony. He didn’t look angry or upset, he just looked... confused. The mechanic didn’t know what to do. He was terrified that they would find out his secret, but he was also afraid that, if he didn’t come clean, Steve would leave him, and with good reason. And so, in that moment, he made a decision.

“I ran away from home. Well, not ran exactly. After my parents died, my legal guardian showed his true colors. My father left him everything we had, including the house, the furniture, and any and all inventions I had come up with. I had a robot, I built him myself from scratch. His name was DUM-E. He’s probably been destroyed now or sold for parts”, Tony told them, his eyes suddenly burning as the tears began to fill them, “My guardian threw me out right after the funeral. All I had were the clothes I was wearing at the time, nothing more. I couldn’t afford MIT anymore, so I had to leave there too. My friend Rhodey helped me out, let me stay at his mother’s place for a while”.

“That’s all very sad, but it doesn’t explain why the hell you’re using a fake name”, Bucky interrupted, earning a glare from Steve as soon as he opened his mouth.

“I created something during my MIT years”, _technically not a lie_ , Tony thought to himself, _I did create the Jericho while at MIT, just not AT MIT_ , “I put a code on it, something not even the best hacker in the world could crack. It was important and expensive”, _and dangerous_ , “and I wanted to keep it safe from the wrong people. My guardian found out and he wanted the code. He came after me, tried to drag me home. I refused. According to my father’s will, though, I _had_ to give him the code because everything I had was _his_ property now. He said he would come back with some lawyers, get things straight. So I ran away”.

“Shit”, Clint whispered, grabbing his partner’s hand and squeezing it.

“So I moved to NY and changed my name. My friend Rhodey is the only person who knows where I am because he helped me rent the house I’m in. I’m afraid of what would happen if my legal guardian found me, so that’s why I changed my last name. Now, if you don’t mind”, Tony said, getting up and putting on his jacket, “I’d like to go home. Nice meeting you all”.

“I’ll take you home…” Steve tried, but the mechanic outright refused.

“No, I’ll call a cab. I’d like to be alone tonight. I’ll talk to you tomorrow”, and with a final wave, Tony left the bar leaving a brokenhearted Steve behind.

* * *

_> >Hey, how are you feeling? Text me when you wake up, sweetheart _ _―_ _sent at 6am_

_> >Tony, sweetheart, I’m so sorry about last night. Please, pick up the phone _ _―_ _sent at 7.30am_

_> >Hey, it’s me. I understand if you need some time, if you’re mad at me for putting you in that situation, but please just tell me if you’re alright. I need to know you’re safe _ _―_ _sent at 9am_

“Knock knock”, a soft voice came from the door. Steve recognized the voice immediately. He knew he was behaving like a child, ignoring Bucky like that, but he couldn’t help it. He was just too angry to have a proper conversation with his best friend.

“Come on, Stevie. I’m really sorry, ok? I couldn’t have known…”

“No. You’re right, you couldn’t have known, so you shouldn’t have exposed him like that”.

“I was trying to protect you”, Bucky tried to explain, getting closer to Steve’s desk.

“FROM WHAT?” Steve suddenly shouted, making his friend shrink a little. He took a deep breath to compose himself once more before continuing. “Bucky, what were you trying to protect me from exactly?”

“I just didn’t want to see you hurt again”.

He laughed. “Look at me! I’m hurting! Tony won’t answer my calls or my texts. He probably wants nothing to do with me anymore and I can’t say I blame him!”

“Look, I just worry, okay? Or did you forget what happened the last time…”

“OH MY GOD! This again! I was stupid, I fell for the wrong person, I got my heart broken, BIG FUCKING DEAL! It’s happened to everyone. Or do I have to remind you of Connie?” Steve replied before covering his face with his hands, “How many times are you going to remind me of that? I fell in love, I got played, I was sad and I moved on”.

“Oh, come on, Stevie, it was more than that and you know it”, Bucky immediately countered, looking angry, “You were a mess! You didn’t leave your house for almost a month, you didn’t eat, you didn’t talk to anyone! You were a goddamn zombie! I know you like to see the best in everyone, but some people are just bad, okay? And when I found out Tony was lying about his name I got mad because I thought ‘great, here’s another Ophelia to tear him apart’. I was wrong about that, and I’m sorry, but I only did it because I care about you”.

“I know. I know”, Steve sighed. “Did I tell you my first date with Tony was not so good?”

That took Bucky by surprise. “No. No, you didn’t”.

“I showed up with a very expensive car, took him to one of the most expensive restaurants in New York. I booked the whole place just for us. And that’s not even counting the huge bouquet of flowers I sent before, or the chocolates”.

“See, that’s what I’m saying”, Bucky interrupted, pointing at Steve, “That right there. You fall too hard too fast and they take advantage of you”.

“Tony looked uncomfortable the entire night”, Steve said, ignoring his friend’s words, “so I finally asked him what was wrong, if I had done something that he didn’t like. And he told me that he’d had some contact with _rich people_ before and that the only thing they really cared about was money so he wasn’t sure if I was worth dating. He asked me to tone it down with the expensive shit”.

“That doesn’t mean anything, he could be playing the long game with you, Stevie”.

“Why is it so hard for you to believe that someone could actually love me for me and not for my money?”

Bucky shook his head, “That’s not true and you know it”.

“I like him, Bucky. In fact, I’m very much in love with him. I’m happier than I have been in a very long time. And if you’re right, if he’s this horrible person you’re so convinced he is, if he does play for a fool and breaks my heart, then I’ll deal. Please, just… give me the respect of making my own decisions”, he pointedly said, knowing what that phrase meant to both of them.

“That’s low, Stevie”.

“She _was_ always right. You said so yourself”.

Bucky unconsciously touched his metal arm, squeezing it lightly. “Yeah. You’re right. I’m sorry”.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to try and get some work done so I can leave early to go beg Tony to forgive me”, he said, turning back to the computer, but not before glancing at his cell phone, where the screen was still empty, with no new messages.

Bucky nodded and got up, shutting the door behind him. He then turned to Hill. “Maria, I need Tony’s address. You have it, right?”

She nodded, raising an eyebrow. “Maybe I do. Why exactly would you like that most valuable piece of information, Barnes?”

He sighed, glancing at the shut door of his best friend’s office. “I just want to fix the mess I made”.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Bucky talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small chapter because I've been kind of busy lately D: But I hope you guys enjoy it!

Tony knew the whole interrogation debacle hadn’t been Steve’s fault. The blonde had spent an entire week trying to convince the mechanic that they shouldn’t go. At first, Tony had been sad, thinking maybe Steve was embarrassed of introducing a nobody covered in grease to his rich friends, but the thought had been quickly dismissed after his lover spent forty minutes explaining how his friends were _too_ overprotective and how he was absolutely terrified that they would somehow manage to scare the mechanic away. At the time, Tony had reassured Steve time and again that there was no way in hell anyone would be able to scare him away. And he had firmly believed that because nothing in this world could be worse than the life he’d led before coming to NY. So, when the day arrived, Tony put on his rich boy mask, the one he hadn’t used since his last encounter with Ty a good year ago, and got ready to face wherever Steve’s friends could throw at him. The thing is… He was expecting something else entirely.

Tony was used to a very particular kind of _rich people_ , the kind that would laugh obnoxiously while talking about their trips to Europe and then discuss the newest scandal involving some politician’s daughter and another clueless millionaire between flutes of expensive champagne. And so, the mechanic was expecting to meet someone like Tiberion, who threw money around in order to show everyone just how rich and powerful he was, or maybe someone like Justin, who monopolized every conversation, always talking about how great he was (spoiler alert, he really wasn’t). He was most certainly not expecting to meet a bunch of very down to Earth people in a karaoke bar, drinking and eating onion rings and, basically, just having fun. They looked so normal, so _chill_ , that Tony didn’t even notice his mask slipping, dropping his guard a little bit more with every word exchanged. And, of course, that had been his doom.

He liked to think that he would have handled the situation a lot better if he’d been prepared for it, or at least expecting it. He thought maybe they would give him the shovel talk, the _you better not be after his money_ talk, or something along these lines, so the sudden accusation that he was an imposter felt like a punch to the stomach. Because it was true. He was, technically, an imposter. He was lying about his name and hiding a whole lot of other things from Steve. And, at that moment, it was like his brain lit up. _I could be putting Steve in danger. I could be putting all of them in danger._ He kept repeating it again and again and again inside his mind, in an endless, horrible loop. He couldn’t tell them the truth, not the real truth, but Steve was right there and he was looking at Tony with such a confused and hurt look. So he spilled the story. He told the truth where he could, carefully omitting the things he knew would get him into trouble. And when he was done, he felt awful. It was like reliving all of it again… Finding the evidence, the phone call, DUM-E trying to protect him, running away… He needed to leave. He needed to be alone, away from everything and everyone. And so he left in a hurry, leaving behind a very distraught Steve.

The calls came during the night and then again the next morning. Every time his phone rang, Tony would take it and stare at it, fighting the urge to answer it just to hear Steve’s soothing voice again. But he couldn’t. He had to be strong. So every time, with tears in his eyes, he would press the decline button, hoping that maybe the blonde would take a hint. He had just ignored yet another call from Steve when he heard the unmistakable noise of a motorcycle outside his shop. He looked up just in time to see Bucky taking off his helmet. The man looked sheepishly at Tony.

“Hey”.

“I got the message. No need for a repeat performance”, Tony said, turning back to the engine he was supposed to fix.

“I deserve that. But come on, just give me a chance to explain myself?”

“Explain? You asked an FBI agent to do a background check on me. I’m pretty sure that’s a crime”.

“Yeah, well, so is creating a new identity, so I guess we’re even”, Bucky replied and immediately shook his head, regretting his words, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m just defensive. I really am sorry about the whole FBI thing. But I had to make sure you weren’t just trying to hurt Stevie”.

“You know what’s insane?”, Tony suddenly said, raising his head to look at Bucky, “The fact that you don’t seem to realize how insane it is that you ran a background check on someone your friend has been seeing for less than two weeks! It was a complete invasion of privacy and, honestly? It’s creepy as fuck.”

“I know. Sam chewed me out for that. So did Coulson. They want to apologize to you as well, by the way. They were pretty pissed at me after what happened”.

“Well, good, at least _some_ of you have common sense”.

“Look, I am _really sorry_ , I truly am, but after what happened with Ophelia I just couldn’t take the chance, alright?”

Tony threw him a confused look. “Who’s Ophelia?”

“Shit. Okay. Please, don’t tell Stevie I’m telling you this because this is something you two should talk about yourselves later, but I’m gonna give you the short version”, he said with a sigh, sitting down on a stool nearby, “Stevie started the company after we came back. We started small and then suddenly we were the biggest thing in the security business. That’s when he met Ophelia. She was beautiful, charismatic and supposedly super in love with Stevie. She was the perfect woman. She fooled all of us. Turns out she was a spy for HYDRA Corp. Stevie spent months giving her everything she wanted, clothes, perfumes, even a goddamn car, and she was tricking him the entire time. Nearly broke him when he found out. So yeah, you could say I’m a little overprotective”.

“Just so you know”, Tony started, getting closer to him, “I dropped some oil on that stool right before you got here”.

“Yeah, I know, I can feel it”.

“Look, what you did was shitty as hell”, the mechanic replied, sitting down next to him on the clean stool, “I understand your reasons, but it was still fucking shitty. I had to take a lot of shit from a lot of people before and that’s not gonna fly anymore. I really like Steve, but I’m not going to let people treat me like crap. Got that?”

Bucky nodded, biting his lip, apprehensive.

“So I accept your apology”.

At that moment, Tony’s phone rang again, a photo of Steve making faces flashing on the screen.

“So, you’re going to take that?”

The mechanic looked down at his phone and shook his head. “No, I don’t think I will”.

“Look, I know I screwed up…”, Bucky started to say, suddenly looking desperate.

“It’s not that. It’s just… my old life, the one I ran from. It’s too complicated and I don’t want to drag Steve into it”.

“I get that. And, to be honest, I’d much rather if you didn’t, but that dumbass is head over heels in love with you. You’re going to break his heart”.

“It’s breaking my heart too”, Tony whispered to himself, checking the missed call on his cell phone.

Bucky got up, a very noticeable stain of oil on his ass. “Look, I can’t make you call him, but… just think about it before you make any decisions, okay? Also, I promise we’ll behave from now on”.

And with a last nod, he got on his motorcycle and drove away.

* * *

 There was nothing on his fridge except for an expired carton of milk and a very old apple. Steve closed its door, sighing loudly. Of course there wasn’t any food; after all, he’d been spending all of his time at Tony’s lately. God, he missed the mechanic. He missed coming home to a smiling face. He missed cooking dinner between loving touches and stolen kisses. And he missed falling asleep next to his mechanic, nose buried on his hair, smelling that scent that was so naturally Tony. Steve had always fallen hard and fast for people, ever since he was a boy. But this… this was ridiculous. He’d known Tony for less than two weeks, for God’s sake, and he couldn’t stop thinking about him, couldn’t stop picturing their life together. He couldn’t help but imagine what their future would be like. And now he wasn’t even sure they would have a future. Feeling utterly depressed, the blonde decided he wasn’t that hungry after all and left the kitchen with slumped shoulders and a lost look in his eyes.

It was almost eight when the doorbell rang. He thought about ignoring it, almost sure it was Bucky coming to apologize yet again after Steve ignored his calls, but then he remembered that his friend had a key and had never once been shy on using it. When the doorbell rang again, he sighed and decided to get up and answer it.

“Yes?” He asked grumpily in the intercom.

“Uh, it’s Tony. Mind if I come up?”

He stared at the intercom for a moment, as if his brain was trying to make sense of what his ears had just heard.

“Steve? I can… I can leave if you want, it’s ok…”

“NO”, he shouted, grabbing the corners of the intercom like he could grab Tony through it and pull him into the apartment, “Please, come up!”

He buzzed Tony in and then looked around and then at himself frantically. He was wearing a pair of old sweatpants that had definitely seen better days and a colorful t-shirt that said _born to be bi_ , which Sam had given him last Christmas as a gag gift for their Secret Santa. He thought about changing quickly, but the soft knock on the door told him there wasn’t enough time. Resigned, he opened the door with a sheepish look on his face.

As predicted, Tony burst out laughing at the sight of him, “Nice shirt”.

“Thanks. What are you doing here?”

The mechanic bit his lip, looking down at the box of pizza he was holding and then back at Steve.

“I brought food. I thought maybe we could eat? So, can I come in or…?”

Steve quickly stepped to the side, opening the door wider for Tony to go through, which he did. He looked around the apartment, whistling.

“I can’t believe we hung out on my dumpster of an apartment when we could’ve been hanging out here”, he put the pizza on the table nearby and walked to the nearest couch, touching it, “You know, I love how you’re the perfect mixture between fancy rich and Brooklyn broke”.

Steve huffed out a laugh, putting his hands on his pockets as he walked towards Tony, stopping a few feet from him.

“I’m sorry about what happened that night”.

“It wasn’t your fault. And Bucky and I talked so we’ll be fine eventually”, the mechanic replied, shrugging, and then sighed, “I’m sorry I didn’t answer your calls. Or your texts”.

“I get it. You wanted to be alone”.

“I did. I’m going to be honest, I thought about ghosting you. Not because of what happened exactly, but because… There’s a lot about me that you don’t know, Steve, a lot that I’m not willing to tell yet. I’m dangerous to be around. People I love tend to be hurt”.

“I can take a hit”, Steve replied full of conviction and a determined look.

“You might take a lot more than just one hit”.

“For you?”, he asked, stepping closer to Tony and touching his cheek softly, making the mechanic close his eyes with a sigh, “I can do this all day”.

The brunette laughed. “What? You can touch my face all day?”

One step closer, their noses touching, “I can fight for you all day. I can fight for you all my life if that’s what it takes. Because you’re worth it”.

Tony quickly put his hands on Steve’s neck, pulling him into a passionate kiss.

“The pizza is gonna get cold”, Tony complained between kisses, “I brought your favorite”.

Steve smiled, kissing his mouth and then, gently, his nose. “Pizza first, then. And dessert after. Also, how did you know where I lived?”

“Okay, another piece of information about me: I’m an amazing hacker. I once hacked the Pentagon on a dare. Let me tell you, the agents that showed up at my door were _not_ amused”, he said, smiling when he heard Steve laugh. The blonde pulled him closer and they both walked to the kitchen, taking plates and glasses and bringing them to the living room.

Later that night, Tony watched Steve snore softly, the movie completely forgotten.  He smiled and wiggled himself closer to the bigger man, feeling Steve’s arm tightening around him, not letting him go. He closed his eyes and for the first time in a very long time, he thought to himself… _I’m home_.

* * *

Meanwhile, a very well dressed man was standing in front of Tony’s auto shop, staring at it as he smoked his cigar. He stayed there, watching the windows above the shop for a long time. He threw the expensive cigar on the floor, stepping on it with his very shiny shoes before taking a cell phone from the inner pocket of his jacket.

“Stane? I have some information that might interest you”.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot happens!

They were about to celebrate their one month anniversary and Steve could not be happier. After that particular night in his apartment, where they spent the night together in each other’s arms and Steve had woken up to a _very_ eager Tony kissing his way down his body, they’d had a very frank talk over breakfast. Steve had opened his heart to the mechanic without fear or hesitation. Tony, on his part, had listened intently with a smile on his face and, when the blond was finally finished with his speech, had simply replied with a very emotional _I love you too_. Needless to say, neither of them made it to work that day.

As the weeks passed, they grew even closer and, slowly, Tony started to share more and more of his previous life with his boyfriend. _My father was not a very nice person_ , he’d said one day while they made dinner, _he beat me and always made me feel like I was a failure_. Steve had listened, nodding when necessary, and when Tony was done, he’d merely hugged him tight, kissing his hair. _We had a butler and he was the one who raised me,_ he told Steve another time, when they were watching a movie, _I considered him my father and he considered me a son. He died of a heart attack while I was at MIT and my parents didn’t even have the decency to call me and tell me. I didn’t go to his funeral_ , he said sniffling, with tears in his eyes, while Steve pulled him closer, touching his forehead with his lips and murmuring words of comfort.

Tony also got closer to Steve’s friends. He had insisted they invite the others over for dinner and refused to take no for an answer. Defeated, Steve had agreed with him in the end and invited the gang over, but not before having a very long conversation with them about respect and boundaries. They all came over on a Friday night. They ordered some pizzas and played board games. At first, they were all very nervous and stiff, and made very little eye contact with Tony. By the end of the night, Bucky was standing on the table, pointing his finger at Tony and screaming that he was a freaking thief while the others laughed and told him he was a sore loser. After that, they decided it would be better to stop playing Monopoly.

Overall, Steve could not be happier. Everything was working perfectly in his life. His boyfriend, who he loved very much and who loved him in return, was starting to trust him enough to share more and more about his previous life. His friends not only accepted his boyfriend, but also welcomed him to the group with arms wide open, treating him like he was one of them. And, of course, the cherry on top: Steve and Tony had confessed their deep feelings for each other and were now officially a couple. Life could not be more perfect, which was probably why destiny decided to throw some rain on their parade.

It was a Thursday when things started to get complicated. Tony had slept over at Steve’s the previous night and left the next morning, after some shower sex and a very nice breakfast. Steve had insisted on giving him a ride, but the mechanic had adamantly refused, assuring the blond that he was more than capable of taking a cab. They parted ways with a kiss and a promise to see each other later that night. Steve watched the cab go with a longing smile on his face and, when it turned the corner and disappeared from view, he finally checked his phone.

_> >Stane called. He’s insisting you meet him at his new tower. – M._

Steve frowned, typing a reply.

_< <Did you tell him I don’t usually make house calls?_

He got in the car, eyes still on his phone as Happy closed the door.

_> >Yes, I did. That’s why I said he was insisting. He says he’s very busy today and that he’s sure you’d make an exception for him because you two are, and I quote, “more than just business partners”. – M._

Steve rolled his eyes. They were definitely **not** more than just business partners. In fact, they were barely that, especially now that Stane had been selling them old tech and trying to pass it as new. Still, the blond sighed and replied.

 _< <Yeah, tell him I’ll meet him there. Might as well, since we’re probably gonna drop him when the contract’s over_.

 _> >Sending the address to Happy’s GPS right now_. _– M_.

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the big, ugly tower with a huge _Stane_ _Industries_ written on the top. He exited the car, buttoning his suit and walked inside the building. A red headed woman in a suit quickly came to greet him.

“Hello, Captain Rogers. I’m Virginia Potts, Mr. Stane’s personal assistant. Please follow me, he’s in the workshop waiting for you”.

“A pleasure to meet you, Miss Potts”, Steve nodded and followed her to the private elevator. They rode it in complete silence. When the doors opened minutes later, Steve couldn’t help but look around with wide eyes.

The workshop, as Miss Potts had called it, was like something out of a sci-fi movie. Steve couldn’t name half the things in there.

“Ah, Captain! I’m so glad you could come”, Stane exclaimed in a welcoming tone. Steve knew he was being polite, but, for some reason, every time that man opened his mouth the blond would get chills, and not the good kind.

“Mr. Stane. I don’t usually make house calls, but I was nearby so it was no trouble”, he said, shaking the man’s hand, “I _would_ like to know why exactly I’m here, though”.

“Yes, yes. Virginia? Please, bring us some scotch”.

“Water for me, please, Miss Potts”, Steve intervened.

“No drinks before lunch, Captain? What, the missus will be mad or something?”

“Just not much for drinking in general, Mr. Stane”, he replied, trying very hard to sound polite, “Now, the purpose of this meeting?”

“Yes, yes, of course. Have you seen our newest weapon? I call it the _Jericho_. It should be operational within a few weeks”, Stane said, gesturing to what seemed to be a simple missile.

Steve got a bit closer and looked at it, frowning. “A missile? Mr. Stane, I don’t see how my company would need missiles. We’re not going to war with anyone”.

“Oh, no. I didn’t bring you here for the _Jericho_ , Captain, but for a… let’s say business proposition. Just hear me out. SHIELD trains the best people. And I happen to know a few people in very high positions in our government who would be very interested in a… let’s say… merger”, he started, gesturing to the chair nearby. Steve sat down, still looking very suspicious. “We both know how the world works. Civilians think it’s all black and white, good and bad, but **we** know better. There is a lot of grey out there. And sometimes there are missions, things that must be done, that the public would never understand. So they have entire teams for it, teams that remain in secret and do their jobs in secret”.

“Are you suggesting SHIELD should become some sort of shady organization?”

“All I’m saying is that SHIELD trains the best people, Captain. You’re not just training security agents, you’re training spies”, Stane said in a soft tone, “Yes, I know about your friend, Miss Romanov, is it? She was KGB, was she not? And now she trains your people”.

“I’m starting to sense a little threat in your words, Stane, and I gotta tell you, I don’t do well with threats. So you should measure your next words very carefully”, Steve replied in a warning tone.

“No threat here, my boy!”, he said with a booming laugh, “No threat, just a business opportunity. Think about it… SHIELD could be the next CIA”.

“We are not interest in that. We do security, that’s it. And if that’s all you called me here for…”

“Calm down, my boy, it was just an idea. I have some new tech I need to show you”, he said, typing something on his phone, “The engineers should be here in a minute”.

“I’m not interested in any new tech…”, Steve started to said, but was interrupted by something grabbing and pulling him by the shirt. He turned around and found himself face to face with what appeared to be a very big robot.

The robot in question let his shirt go and raised its claw ― or was it its head? Maybe it was both ―, opening and closing it as if he was blinking at Steve.

“What…?”

“That’s DUM-E”, Miss Potts answered, having suddenly appeared with a tray. She gave Stane the glass of scotch and offered Steve the bottle of water, which he politely accepted. And then suddenly, it hit him.

“I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

“That’s DUM-E”, the red head repeated with a small smile.

In a blink, a memory from a few weeks ago suddenly appeared on his head. _I had a robot, I built him myself from scratch_ , he saw Tony say with sad eyes inside his own mind, _His name was DUM-E. He’s probably been destroyed now or sold for parts._

“His name is DUM-E?”, Steve asked, softly petting the claw, who chirped as if it were happy.

“Yes. It’s just a dumb robot. We’ve tried shutting it down or dismantling it for parts, but it gets aggressive every time someone gets close”, Stane explained, taking a sip from his glass, “I’m actually surprised he’s letting you touch him”.

Suddenly, everything made sense. He eyed the missile, the _Jericho_ , on the table and clenched his jaw.

“How much for him?”

“I’m sorry?”, Stane asked, feigning surprise.

“How much for the robot?”

“You want to buy the robot”.

“Yes. Was the question not clear?”

Miss Potts was staring at them, apprehensive.

“This is a special robot…”, Stane started, but was interrupted by the other.

“ _How much_?”, Steve repeated.

Stane smiled as if Christmas had come earlier this year.

* * *

Tony exited the car, looking around with a suspicious look. He hadn’t told Steve, hadn’t wanted to bother or worry him, but for some time now he’d had the feeling he was being watched. Whether it was at the car shop, at his apartment or when he was arriving at Steve’s building, it was look he could feel someone’s eyes trained on him. It was disconcerting to say the least, but every time he looked around and searched for the source he found no one. By now, Tony was convinced his mind was playing tricks on him. So, once again, he shook his head, trying to get his paranoia out of his mind, and walked inside the building.

He took the elevator to Steve’s apartment and opened the door with a smile on his face. He couldn’t wait to see Steve and hug him and kiss him. Tony had had boyfriends before, but none of them had been even remotely like Steve. He was sweet, kind, understanding. Sometimes, Tony just had to look at him and his heart would fill with so much love and happiness he actually felt like he might explode. And being able to see him, everyday, to sleep and wake up in his arms, it was just the best feeling in the world. He was amazing. _And he’s mine_ , he thought to himself, locking the door behind him and taking his coat off as he walked towards the living room.

“Honey, I’m home”, he called out in a playful tone.

He heard a loud crashing sound, as if someone had just dropped something very happy, and then suddenly… Was that… beeping? Tony turned around, confused, and saw it. Looking at him like a child who has finally found his long lost father, was none other than DUM-E.

“DUM-E?”, he asked in a whisper.

DUM-E beeped loudly and happily, running over to Tony while its claw head like a kid. He stopped right in front of the mechanic, beeping away as if he was trying to talk. Tony touched him softly, making the machine beep even more, and then hugged him awkwardly. The mechanic had tears in his eyes. He looked up to see Steve on the door to their bedroom, a small smile on his face.

“How did you find him?” Tony asked, letting go of the robot. DUM-E, who was apparently already over the whole reunion thing and very curious about his new home, rolled away to the lamp nearby and started pressing the button, turning it on and off and on and off again nonstop, beeping excitedly.

“About that…”, Steve said, walking closer to Tony and taking his hands, kissing one softly, “I think I know who you are, Tony. And, if you let me, I think I can help you”.

Tony sniffed, glancing at DUM-E, all happy and clueless. “How did you find him?”, he repeated the question, looking at Steve once more.

“I bought him from Stane. And I don’t think it was just a coincidence. I think he called me to his new tower today for this exact purpose. I think he knows where you are and what you are to me, Tony”.

The mechanic whined as if in pain, hugging himself with both arms, stepping away from Steve.

“I need… I need to run. I need to go, I need…”

“Tony”, Steve said firmly, holding the smaller man by the shoulders, “If you want to run, I won’t stop you. We’ll run together. We’ll go to London, Paris, even freaking Siberia if that’s what it takes. But I need you to listen to me… You don’t have to run anymore, Tony, because I’ll protect you. I’ll fight whoever I need to, I promise you, and I’ll rip them apart if I have to. I will never let him hurt you again, Tony. I **promise** you”.

Tony was looking down. He took a deep breath and nodded, looking up to meet Steve’s eyes. “I trust you”, he whispered.

“Do you want to run? Or do you want to stay and fight them? It’s your choice, love”, Steve asked softly, cleaning away a tear with his thumb.

Tony took yet another breath and closed his eyes hard, before opening them with a determined look. “I want to stay and fight”.

Steve smiled. “First thing we’re going to do… We’re going to hire the best damn lawyer in this country and we’re going to take a look at your father’s will. Because I know your father was an asshole, Tony, but from what you’ve told me, and what I’ve heard from him, he was all about legacy and names. And I seriously doubt he’d leave everything to someone other than his son”.

“Rhodey said the same thing”, Tony replied, nodding, “But Stane has a legion of lawyers. It’s hard to go against rich people. Trust me, I know”.

“He’s not the only rich people around”, Steve joked, kissing his boyfriend’s forehead and pulling him to his chest, “You don’t have to be afraid anymore, Tony. You have an army now. We’re going to get you justice. We’re going to avenge you”.

_Sir? Sir, are you there?_

Tony opened his eyes and untangled himself from Steve. Both turned their eyes to DUM-E, who seemed confused.

_Sir? Is that you? I recognize your voice pattern. Please, respond._

DUM-E started to turn around on himself, searching for the source of the voice, unaware that the voice was coming from his own sound box.

“Is DUM-E talking?” Steve asked, confused, but Tony was too stunned to pay any attention to him.

“JARVIS?” He asked carefully, taking a step closer to DUM-E.

_Yes, sir. I must say, it is a pleasure to talk to you again_ _―_ _DUM-E, for heaven’s sake, stop moving, I have told you a million times, it’s ME._

DUM-E stopped moving, but turned his claw, still confused.

“Jarvis? Who’s Jarvis?”

Tony turned back to Steve. “Remember the _something_ I created, the thing my guardian… Obadiah wanted… It’s a missile”.

“The Jericho”, Steve supplied, and then explained upon seeing the perplexed look on Tony’s face, “He showed it to me, said it would be operational in a few weeks”.

_That is a lie, sir. Mr. Stane has brought many capable men and women to try and get rid of me, but I assure you all of them were unsuccessful._

“Wait. Is JARVIS…”

“JARVIS is the one thing keeping Stane from accessing the Jericho. I’m the only person that can activate it, get it to work”, Tony confirmed, “and when all of that happened, I created JARVIS to protect it from him. The reason no one can crack the code is because he’s an AI. He is always rewriting himself”.

_Indeed I am, sir._

“JARVIS, how did you do this? How can you be inside DUM-E’s program?”, Tony asked, curious and astonished with his creation.

_I simply hacked him, as the young ones would say. Not only DUM-E, however. Sir, I control the tower. The elevators, the computers, every electronic inside. I have infiltrated their system and they are unaware of it._

Tony’s mouth fell open. “You’re in the tower? How the hell did you manage to do that? The Jericho wasn’t connected to any networks, that’s not possible”.

_I had help, sir. And she recorded a message for you as well. A moment, if you please._

There was a minute of silence before a very familiar voice filled the room.

 ** _Tony? Is this… Do I just talk?_** DUM-E’s sound boxes were not exactly the best, so the voice sounded a bit off, but it was still unmistakable. **_Tony, it’s Pepper. I just helped your… AI… thingy get out. If you’re listening to this, than call me, you absolute prick! I miss you and I’m worried about you! Rhodey won’t tell me where you are, says he promised, that traitor! Please, just call me, alright? I’m his assistant now, I’m on the inside. I can help bring him down, Tony! Just, please, let me know you’re alright, ok?_**

“Oh my God. That’s Pepper!”

“Pepper?” Steve asked.

_You know her as Miss Potts, Captain. Sir, I must tell you… Miss Potts and I have uncovered some very interesting documents on Mr. Stane’s computer._

“What kind of documents?” Steve inquired, stepping closer to Tony, who had just sat down on the couch, looking absolutely overwhelmed.

_Documents that could prove Mr. Stane has been double dealing for years now. I cannot take the information from his computer, however. Said information must be manually transferred to a secure hard drive._

“Tony… Tony, I know a lot just happened all of a sudden”, Steve said, kneeling down in front of his boyfriend, “But this is good. Tony, we can fight him. We can get you your life back. What do you say, love?”

Tony stared at his hands for a long moment, looking deep in thought. Then, he raised his head, looking into Steve’s eyes before smiling, determined, a fire burning in his brown eyes.

“I say let’s get the son of a bitch”.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang makes plans to get Tony his life back.

Tony was eleven years old when he was kidnapped for the first time. He’d been waiting for Jarvis right outside school. The butler was late, which was very unusual. When the car finally arrived, the boy got in without a second thought, throwing his Superman backpack on the car seat. He was about to ask Jarvis why he was late when he finally noticed the driver was not, in fact, his butler. By then, it was already too late. Hands suddenly grabbed and pulled him to the side, just as the door closed, and his nose and mouth were quickly covered. He tried to scream, to set himself free, but he knew it was in vain. No one could hear him. He felt a prick on his neck and soon his eyes were too heavy to be open any longer and he fell unconscious. He spent ten days in captivity. Those were the worst days of his life. He was kept in a small, dark room, with a barred window that barely allowed any sunlight inside. They’d bring him food (usually a piece of bread) and water occasionally.

On his first day in captivity, Tony cried, scared. On his second and third days, he spent all his time looking outside the window, hoping his father would show up with the police. On the fourth, he cried again, convinced that his father, who had never much cared for him anyway, would not pay the ransom to get back a good for nothing son he didn’t even want. Through the fifth to the seventh day, he carefully observed the three men that had taken him, taking notes on what they did and at what time, and memorizing all possible escape routes. On the eighth and ninth day, he managed to steal everything he needed. On the tenth day, he set the small bomb to go off minutes after he was taken from his room for his bathroom break, successfully hurting one of the criminals and confusing the two others long enough to be able to slip past them and into a small hole that took him to the garage, where he hotwired the car and got the hell out of there without looking back. Needless to say, everyone, including the police officers, was very surprised when the eleven year old showed up at his home in a car he’d stolen from his own kidnappers. That day, as Howard proudly told the police, and whoever would hear it, that Stark men needed no one but themselves to get out of a bad situation was the day that Tony learned he couldn’t count on anyone, ever. And he’d lived by this all his life. Which was why it was so strange, and even scary, for him to be sitting there, in the middle of Steve’s living room, listening to all these people eagerly and determinedly planning to take down Obadiah and discussing how to restore Tony as the sole heir and CEO of Stark Industries.

“So, we can contest the validity of the will?”, Steve asked the lawyer, Matthew something, while squeezing Tony’s hand at the same time.

“It is possible, yes. From what Mr. Stark has told us, we could file for undue influence or we could claim that the signature on the will was forged. According to the dates you’ve provided, Mr. Stark senior changed his will only days before his untimely death, which brings a lot of suspicion on its own, and, of course, there’s also the fact that Mr. Stark senior publicly claimed, many times, that legacy was of the utmost importance to him and expressed his desires to see his son take his place when the time was right. Which brings the question, why would a man who worked tirelessly to make sure his son would be a perfect heir to his empire suddenly decide said son was no longer fit for the job, passing everything, including his son’s intellectual property, to a partner? It raises questions and, right now, that’s exactly what we need”.

“What about the accident?”, Natasha asked.

“What about the accident?” Tony asked, confused, looking at Natasha. He quickly looked around when she didn’t answer him and noticed that everyone seemed to have gone eerily silent. They were looking at each other as if they knew a secret.

“Tony”, Steve started saying, squeezing his hand once more, but Bucky interrupted him.

“We’re not sure, yet, but… We think your parent’s accident might not have been, you know, an actual accident”.

“What do you mean? There was an investigation, there were CCTV footage reviewed. Obie made sure…”, but then his voice faltered as he stared at the pity looks everyone was sending his way, “Obie… You think Obie had my parents killed?”

“We don’t know, Tony”, Natasha replied, “But we’re not ruling that out. We just think it’s weird that both your parents died in an accident days after the will was changed. It may be just a coincidence, but…”

“But you don’t really think it’s a coincidence at all, do you?”

Natasha and Bucky looked at each other and then shook their heads, looking down.

Tony took a deep breath.

“Are you okay?” Steve asked, pulling him closer by the shoulders.

“Honestly? I don’t know. I mean, Obie, he… He was nice, Steve. He was always on my side, even called my dad out sometimes when he mistreated me or called me stupid. He was the one who inspired me to create the Jericho. He kept talking about how proud my father would be, how all the soldiers, Rhodey included, would be much safer if we have the bigger stick. Because that was my father’s motto: ‘Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy’. And I believed that”.

“He was manipulating you; lightly calling out the abuser so it would seem he was on your side, but never doing anything to fully stop the abuse you suffered; playing your weaknesses: your need for parental approval, which is pretty typical on abused children, and your desire to protect those you loved, like Rhodey”, Natasha replied, looking away with a sigh, “I know something about being manipulated. When you’re surrounded by violence, it’s much easier to accept whatever kindness is bestowed upon you. It’s easier to just believe them”.

“I can see that now”, Tony said, nodding with sad eyes, “The minute they read my father’s will, he kicked me out of the house. He had the Jericho, he had SI, he didn’t need me anymore. But then, when he noticed what I’d done to the missile, he came looking for me. At first he tried to apologize, said he wasn’t dealing well with his mourning, that my father’s death had really hit him hard. I didn’t buy it. So he changed his tone, said I designed the Jericho while under a SI contract and so it belonged to them, to him; said I needed to get it working, or he’d make me regret it. So I ran”.

“Tony”, Matthew called, getting the engineer’s attention, “We need to know more about this will. Were you present when they read it?”

Tony nodded.

“What exactly did the will say?”

“I don’t remember the exact words, but it said that, on the event of both of my parent’s deaths, Stane should become my legal guardian”.

“Do you know if the previous will said that as well? Do you know if this clause was added or modified in the second will?”

“No”.

“What are you thinking, Mattie?” Clint asked, frowning.

“Well, from the information we have, Howard Stark had a previous will made when Tony was born. Then, years later, he canceled the previous will by making a new one. You were twenty at the time, is that correct?”

“Nineteen, actually”.

“Tony was legally an adult when the second will was drafted. Man like Howard Stark would have a personal lawyer to take care of it. It seems a bit unusual to me that his lawyer, upon drafting a new version of the will, would leave a clause that could no longer be enforced”.

“Is that illegal?”, Steve inquired.

“Not illegal, per say”, Matthew answered with a tilt of his head, “But unusual. If you’re modifying or drafting a new will, then why not take out the unnecessary clause? Any capable lawyer would do it and Howard Stark doesn’t strike me as the type of man who would hire anything less than the very best”.

“My father had the best lawyers in town”, Tony said, confirming Matthew’s words, “I remember the name of the firm, if that would help. They were from NY”.

“What’s the name?”

“Shit, it’s Hog… Hoger…”

“Hogarth?” Matthew suggested, gently.

“Yes! Hogarth and Associates!”

“You know them?” Steve asked.

Matthew nodded. “Yes. They’re one of the best firms in the State, if not the best. One of our clients, Danny Rand, used to be their client before he decided to come to Nelson and Murdock”.

“He’s dead”.

Everybody turned to Natasha, who was typing on her laptop, staring at the screen as if it had personally offended her.

“Your father’s lawyer”, Natasha explained, “He died five months after your parents. Robbery gone wrong, according to the police reports. They never caught the guy who did it”.

A palpable silence filled the room.

“And the plot thickens”, Clint whispered, earning himself some very dirty looks from Bucky and Sam.

“What else was in that will, Tony?” Matthew called their attention to the subject at hand once more.

“Uh, it gave Stane all of our properties and all the money. It also gave him SI. He now holds 60% of the company’s shares”.

Matthew nodded. “Alright. I’ll get in contact with Hogarth and request a copy of the will today. But, be warned, as soon as I do, Stane will be notified of it”.

“What happens if they don’t have a copy?”

“They need to have at least one copy, otherwise the will becomes null. As the deceased’s son, Tony has a right to view the will. Once we get our hands on a copy, we’ll file for suspicion of undue influence or forgery”, Matthew explained, “I believe we have enough to get a judge’s attention, at least. And, about your parent’s accident and the lawyer’s murder, I can try and request the reports on the investigation. I have a friend on the force, he owns me a favor”.

“No”, Natasha replied before anyone could say anything, “Thank you, Murdock, but no. If Howard and Maria Stark were, in fact, murdered, then the police covered it up. Stane most likely has some people in his pocket. Requesting those files will only raise suspicion. You hit him with the will and keep his attention there. We’ll take care of the rest”, she said, nodding towards Clint and promptly receiving a firm nod back.

“Alright”, Matthew replied, opening his suitcase and fumbling around a little, before finally taking a small card from it, extending it in front of himself. Natasha quickly, and carefully, grabbed it, “If you need help, contact her. She’s one hell of an investigator and she got screwed over by Hogarth once. You tell her we’re going against one of their clients, she’s gonna work his ass off to get what you need”.

Natasha turned the card in her hand, “You really think so?”

“Trust me, Jessica can hold one hell of a grudge. Tell her I sent you her way”, he replied, closing his suitcase, “Best of all, you can trust her”.

“Thanks. We’ll get in contact”.

“Well, that’s all, then”, he said, getting up. Matthew shook Steve’s hand and then, when shaking Tony’s, held a little bit longer, “We’ll get him, Mr. Stark. I promise you that”.

Matthew’s eyes were hidden behind the sunglasses, but Tony would bet everything he had that they were filled with determination. He whispered a polite, and grateful, thank you and watched as Steve walked Matthew to the door.

“Okay. So, we have the will taken care of. Now, what are we going to do about the rest?” Bucky asked, crossing his arms and letting himself fall back on the couch.

“We’ll call this Jessica Jones person, send her to Malibu, ask her to investigate the accident”.

“Do we really trust this person?” Clint asked, looking a bit unsure.

“If Murdock says she can be trusted then she can be trusted. He’s even more of a paranoid freak than Fury”, Bucky replied.

“Dude had his eye taken off with a spoon by his best friend, I think he’s entitled a bit of paranoia”, Clint defended the older man.

“Is that what he told you? He told _me_ he lost his eye in a knife fight with a suspect back on his military days”.

“Should we really do this?” Tony interrupted them. All eyes turned to him, confused. He felt Steve’s strong arms encircling him and let himself melt on them, as if all the stress had suddenly left his body. “Obie… Stane is powerful. He’ll fight this with everything he has. And if he’s done these things, if he’s really capable of murdering people to get what he wants…”

“We’re not going to let anything happen to you, Tony”, Steve whispered, kissing the brunette on the head, “I promise”.

“It’s not just me I’m worried about. You’re all helping me. He might go after you”.

“Tony, let me explain to you how this family works”, Bucky started to say, earning some very surprised looks from everyone else, Tony included, “We don’t do the ‘every man for himself’ kind of thing. We’re more of a ‘three musketeers’ kind of gang. So when I say we’re gonna help you, what I actually mean is ‘we’re not only going to protect your ass with our lives, but we’re also gonna kill anyone and anything that tries to hurt you’. You got that?”

Tony could feel his eyes watering once more. He smiled softly, nodding. “I never… I never really had that. I mean, I had Jarvis, but…”, he sighed, biting his lip, “Thank you. For everything you’re doing for me. I hope one day I’ll be able to repay you”.

“Just name your firstborn after me and we’re good”, Bucky replied, making Clint shout ‘ _HEY, I had that idea first, asshole’_.

“Let’s focus”, Natasha called their attention, “So, we’re agreed? We’ll send Jessica Jones to Malibu to investigate, discreetly”.

“We’ll send Phil with her. Just in case”, Steve added. Natasha nodded in agreement.

“Okay. Now, Clint and I will investigate the lawyer’s death. Might be something there that can help us”, Bucky said, “What are we doing about the evidence in his computer, though?”

Tony took out his phone and put it on the table in the middle of the room, “JARVIS, can you hear me?”

_Loud and clear, sir. How may I assist?_

“Did Obadiah have any part of the tower changed?”

_No, sir. He made no changes whatsoever to the tower’s design._

Tony turned to the others, excited. “I designed the tower myself”.

“Really? You designed that big ugly tower?” Steve asked, earning a dirty look from Tony.

“The point is I designed it and I have a very good memory. I’ll need some materials, but I can use JARVIS and my holographic technology to recreate a full 3D model of the tower, with every entrance, every exit, every room”.

_If I may add, sir, I am currently inside the tower’s system, thanks to Miss Pott’s help. I can temper with the security cameras and provide you with a detailed description of the security guard’s route._

“Good. I’ll get inside, hack the computer”, Natasha said with a determined look on her face, “When can we do it?”

“Next weekend”, Steve replied, “We’ll have Dr. Reed’s Charity Ball next weekend. He already sent the invitations. Stane has been trying to get Reed as a client, so he’ll definitely be there. Tony and I will go, we’ll keep him distracted. Meanwhile, you get inside Stark Tower and get the documents”.

“We can’t use the documents right away, though”, Tony intervened. They all looked at him, confused, so he explained, “If word gets out that the CEO and majority shareholder of Stark Industries has been double dealing, he’ll lose his shares and SI’s stock value will plummet. Thousands of people will be out of a job, all the charities SI supports will lose their financial support, and I’ll never get the company back”, he explained, “We can only use those documents after I get the company”.

“Makes sense. I hadn’t thought of that”, Natasha replied, “Alright. We’ll get the documents, Clint and Bucky will investigate the lawyer and you two”, she said, pointing at Steve and Tony, “will act as if nothing is happening. Keep Stane’s attention on the will, let him think that’s all we have on him”.

They all nodded in agreement. Suddenly, Steve’s phone rang. He immediately picked it up.

“Sam, talk to me”.

_“I don’t have good news, man”_ , Sam replied from the other side. Steve quickly put the call on speaker, so everyone could hear, _“It wasn’t paranoia. There is actually someone following Tony around”._

Tony gasped, looking up at Steve, his eyes full of fear. Steve pulled him in a hug.

_“Dude is not very good at this, though, definitely not a professional. I took some pictures, I’m sending them over to you right now. He’s probably in his late twenties, built, sand colored hair. He’s wearing an expensive suit and drives a…”_

“Blue Ferrari”, Tony completed at the same time Sam said it, “I know who it is. His name is Tiberius Stone”.

“From Viastone Corporation?” Clint asked.

“Yes. If he’s involved with Stane, then you can bet he is the one responsible for Stane’s security. And that complicates things”, Tony explained with a sigh.

“So, what do we do?” Natasha asked, “Do we need a new plan?”

Tony looked away for a second and then back at Natasha, looking more determined than ever before, “we have a week before the charity ball. That’s more than enough time for me to create a program that can hack through anything Ty might have put in Stane’s computer”.

“Really? You can create that kind of program in one week?” Bucky asked, astonished.

But Tony just smiled at him, pure arrogance and confidence, “I’m a certified genius. I’m MIT’s youngest graduate, with a complete PhD and another unfinished one. I made my first circuit board when I was three, I built a motorbike engine from scratch when I was seven, I created DUM-E when I was fifteen, and I created the world’s first Artificial Intelligence”, he took a deep breath, as if reassuring himself, his eyes still full of confidence, “I’m Tony Stark. And I’m going to tear those assholes apart”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did it! I finally did it! Sorry for the delay, guys, but life's been pretty hectic. Also, I cut my finger while cooking three days ago and typing was just a motherfucking pain in the ass D:  
> I hope you like this chapter, let me know what you think!! More comments means I'm more determined to get on writing the next chapter sooner!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jessica Jones does some investigating and uncovers some very interesting things.

_Malibu, CA._

Jessica knew this wouldn’t be an easy job. In her experience as a Private Investigator, a perfect crime usually required only two things: money and connections. And, sadly, her target had both to spare.

She checked her phone, opening the digital file Romanov had sent her a few days before. Obadiah Stane: an excellent chess player, top of his class, Business major. Father was a degenerate gambler, accidentally shot himself in front of his son while playing Russian roulette. Some people might say the trauma of watching his father get his head blown off made Stane the vile, cruel man he was today. Jessica thought that was bullshit. Trauma changes people, sure, she was living proof of that. But she was goddamn tired of these assholes using that to justify their shitty behavior.

She slid her finger on the screen, checking the photos she had taken of the police report. Breaking into the Police Station had been fairly easy. All she had to do was create a small distraction outside and slip, undetected, into the Records Room. She re-read the file: automobile accident, happened at approximately eight o’clock in the evening, both victims died on the scene, no witnesses, road was wet from the recent rain, toxicology report showed that Stark senior had had a few drinks before taking the car for a spin. The whole story was completely believable. Dude drinks his expensive scotch before taking his wife for a ride, loses control after driving through a deep puddle, hits a tree, dies instantly along with said wife. Again, totally believable, except for one little detail: the missing footage.

There had been a camera right there on the crime scene. It should have recorded the whole accident, but it had mysteriously ‘not worked’ that night. The fact that the cops hadn’t bothered to thoroughly investigate the matter told Jessica that some palms had obviously been greased. The missing footage, on the other hand, told her that something must have happened between the moment Stark lost control of the car and the moment they hit that tree, something suspicious enough that they had to get rid of the evidence. And that was a very good start.

It had taken her a few days to find the man responsible for the cameras that particular night. Adrian Toomes, 51 years old, recently opened a small electronics firm with an old friend. Jessica was currently sitting right outside his house, snapping pictures with her camera. The house was big and looked expensive; she’d bet her right kidney that there was a big pool on the backyard. Fancy stuff for a guy who up until a year ago was working as a night watchman for a shitty security company. It was suspicious enough to make Jessica curious.

She watched as Toomes arrived in an Audi and got out of her own shitty car, walking slowly towards him.

“Adrian Toomes?” she called.

He closed the door to the car, turning to her with a curious, yet welcoming look. “That’s me. Can I help you?”

“My name is Jessica Jones, I’m a Private Investigator. I need to discuss something with you”.

Recognition flashed in his eyes and he turned, refusing to look at Jessica and pretending to get something from his suitcase. “Work hours are from 8 to 6 at the company, Miss Jones, I’m afraid you’ll have to set an appointment”.

“I’m not here about your electronic security shit and you know that”, she said forcefully, stepping in front of him as to not let him escape, “You can talk to me now and be free to live your life, or you can tell your story in court. Your choice”.

He looked at her with a disbelieving look on his face. “And who’s going to put me in front of a judge, Miss Jones? You?”

“The young man whose parents you helped murder that night”, she replied without missing a beat, “You think the big rich guy who paid you off gives a rat’s ass about you? If there’s a chance he could be indicted for the Stark’s accident, what do you think he’s going to do? He’s going to throw you to the lions. It’ll be your word against his. But if you give me the information I’m looking for, I can make sure your name disappears in this investigation”, she promised.

Toomes sighed and looked away, pensive. “Think of your wife and daughter, Adrian, and all the shit that you’re going to put them through if you’re arrested for being an accessory to murder”.

“I didn’t… I’m not a bad person…”, he whispered, looking towards his house.

“I believe you. But a guy with a criminal record? You’ll be an easy target. Listen, I don’t want you, you’re small fish. I want the big guy. So put me in the right path and I’ll help you out”.

He said nothing for a moment before sighing again and whispering _come with me_ , leading Jessica inside the house. His wife wasn’t home ― she was currently visiting their daughter at Harvard, as her Facebook status proudly showed. Jessica sat down on one of the armchairs in the living room, cell phone in one hand already discreetly recording the entire conversation.

“Drink?”

“No, thanks”, she replied, even though she definitely felt like having one, “The police report said that you claimed the camera stopped working that night. I think that’s bullshit”.

Toomes looked down at his glass before drinking all of it in one go and sat down on the couch in front of Jessica, looking defeated.

“He came to me earlier that night. He told me what was going to happen. I didn’t have a choice”.

“What do you mean you didn’t have a choice?”

“He told me the name of my daughter’s school, told me what route she made every day when she went home. He said someone powerful wanted the Starks dead and that, if I didn’t help, he could make my family pay for it”.

“And you believed him?”

He laughed a humorless laugh. “It’s like you said. I was a just a nobody with a criminal record. I was lucky to have that job. Some crazy rich guy who’s ruthless enough to assassinate two people he knew, I could only imagine what he would do to me and my family if I didn’t cooperate. So I did it. I took a ‘bathroom break’ when I saw the car coming. Then I came back, the feed was cut and the recorded footage was gone. Then the cops came, questioned me and left. They didn’t seem to care much about it”.

Jessica nodded. “Stane probably paid them off. Who’s the he in this story? The guy who scared you into doing this?”

“He was my boss, the owner of the security company I worked for”.

“Name?” Jessica asked, although she already knew.

“Ivan Vanko”.

 

Jessica left Toomes’ house several hours later, feeling like shit. Talking to people really wasn’t her thing. She got into the car and took a second to decide whether to go straight to the fancy hotel Romanov had put her in or to go get something to eat. Her rumbling stomach made the decision for her.

There were some good restaurants around, and she did have the money ― an exorbitant amount, in fact ― that Romanov had deposited on her bank account. Still, she ended up on a small, almost empty diner, doing research on Ivan Vanko over some waffles and bacon. A quick Google search told her some things about her new target: born in Russia, immigrated to the US when he was five years old and… a smart cookie too, graduated top of his class, a skilled physicist. _What’s with smart people turning into fucking psychopaths?_ she thought to herself, gesturing to the waitress for more coffee.

Her cell phone suddenly rang. She didn’t have to look at the screen to know who it was.

“I’m working”, she said as greeting.

_“I’m so proud”_ , Romanov replied in a sarcastic tone, _“Did you find anything yet?”_

“First guy isn’t worth. He told me he was threatened”.

_“And you believed him?”_

“He looks the type; had a criminal record, a daughter starting college and was about to lose his house. He was an easy target. But anyway, it’s your call. He did give me some new information, though”.

_“You need access?”_

“It’d help”.

_“Hold on…”_ , she heard Romanov talk to someone on the background for a second, _“JARVIS is sending you everything he’s found”._

“Is Jarvis a friend of yours?”

A moment of silence, _“Something like that, yeah. Call me when you learn anything”._

Romanov hung up before she could reply. Seconds later, a few files appeared on the screen. Jessica put the fork back on the plate, turning her whole attention back to the computer. Whoever that Jarvis was, he was goddamn good. Thanks to him, she had now a current address (he still lived in Malibu), a lot of information about his security company (closed a few months after the Starks died) and… a Stark Industry redacted project. There wasn’t much she could read, but the words _arc reactor_ , _Anton Vanko_ and _Howard Stark_ made it pretty clear that Stark senior had had some involvement with the Vanko family before his death. Years before, if the date on the file was to be believed.

“Hey”, Jessica called, transferring the files to her cell phone just as the waitress came closer, “Can you put all of this in a bag or something?”

* * *

 It was past midnight when Ivan Vanko finally left his house, carrying a small bag with him. Jessica had been watching him for hours ― thank God for the ‘to go’ box from the diner ― and was frankly becoming bored out of her mind. The man was small and bulky, with unruly, long hair and a moustache. He looked exactly like the mugshot she had on her phone. She waited until he had gotten into his car ― an old piece of junk ― and driven away. Then, she got to work.

She got inside the house through the back door (thanks to her amazing skill at lockpicking) and turned her flashlight on. She searched for an office room or something similar, hoping to find something, anything really, that could give her something on Ivan Vanko. The first thing she noticed was how dirty and old everything looked: the furniture, the walls, the floor. Whatever Ivan had been paid for the Stark’s assassination, he definitely hadn’t used for a house makeover. Or a cleaning lady, for that matter. There was a faint smell, though, something putrid and offsetting that she couldn’t quite place. She tried to ignore it as she continued her search.

She came across a room right across what she assumed was Vanko’s bedroom.  Jessica walked inside, flashing light everywhere. There were books scattered around on the floor and pieces of machinery everywhere, including on a big table by the corner that seemed to be a makeshift workshop. She looked around for a while and sighed when she found nothing of interest. It’s not like she was expecting to find some damning evidence right away, but a clue would be appreciated. She checked his bedroom next, where the only weird thing she noticed was the suspicious lack of clothes in the wardrobe; the bathroom, nothing but a few cockroaches and a very unsanitary towel on the floor; the living room, a mess of pizza boxes and Chinese food containers, but absolutely nothing of interest. Her last hope was the basement.

The door leading to the basement was open, which made Jessica upset. _If there was anything valuable down there_ , she thought to herself, _he’d have locked it._ Still, she opened it, determined to at least check the place over. As soon as she did so, the putrid smell became stronger. She gagged a little, turning her face away from the door. With yet another sigh, Jessica took the scarf she always carried in her messenger bag and wrapped it around her nose and mouth and ventured down the stairs with caution.

There was a faint light coming from a small TV, but no sound. The room was poorly lit, but enough so that she could see the many newspapers stuck to the walls. _Howard Stark develops new and unique power source_ , _Howard Stark closes deal with Secretary of Defense, Soviet scientist Vanko defects, Vanko found guilty of spying._ And then… _Oh no_ , Jessica thought to herself, getting closer to one of the walls. A picture of Tony Stark with what appeared to be a robot, a picture of him accepting his diploma at MIT, another of him at his parent’s funeral. On the desk right under the pictures, there were many photos, recent ones, of Tony… in his shop, at Roger’s house, walking in some random street, having a bite at a food truck. Jessica swore under her breath, taking her camera from her bag and snapping some quick pictures; this was getting more fucked up by the second.

She turned around and looked over the other side of the room. There was a big glass box right in front of the TV. She walked slowly towards it and almost yelped when she finally saw what was inside. The box was in fact an airtight container and, inside, was the dead body of an older Anton Vanko. Jessica raised her camera and quickly took some pictures of the barely decomposed body, trying very hard not to vomit. _I’m definitely raising the bill, Romanov_ , she thought, shaking her head. After she was done, she turned her attention to the TV and, for a second, couldn’t believe her eyes. It was the evidence; the missing footage. She stepped towards it and watched, stunned, as the familiar car hit the tree. The man, Howard, got out of the car and fell to the ground, dragging himself away from it. Suddenly, a man appeared. _Ivan_. He kicked the older man right in the stomach and then proceeded to punch him repeatedly in the face. Jessica winced. He then put Howard Stark back on his car, closed the door and walked away as if absolutely nothing had happened.

Jessica stood there, not really believing what she had just witnessed. She looked around once more, as the pieces of the puzzle slowly fell into place. Anton Vanko had worked on this arc reactor thing with Howard Stark before being discovered as a spy and sent to prison. Apparently, his son, Ivan, hadn’t taken this very well. It was obvious the Vankos had a grudge against the Starks. And it was even more obvious that Ivan had become a bit… unstable after everything that had happened. He hadn’t killed the Starks for money, he’d done for revenge. He’d kept the evidence of his crime and kept it on repeat on the shitty TV so his dead father could watch it again and again and again. _Unstable might not be enough to describe this nut job_.

Jessica jumped, scared by the sudden noise that came from an old looking printer. _Probably something on the queue_ , she thought, walking over to it. She took one look at the printed paper and swore loudly. The suspicious departure after midnight, the bag, the lack of clothes on the wardrobe… She quickly dialed for Romanov.

_“Anything?”_

“Good news is I found our guy’s hideout and there’s enough here for a judge to overlook the ‘illegal acquired’ part of the evidence. He most likely planned the accident and I have the missing footage proving that he killed Howard Stark with his bare hands”.

“ _And the bad news?”_

“Bad news is he left a while ago carrying a bag”, she replied, taking the paper from the tray and looking at the printed map with Stark’s shop’s address on it, “and I have very good reason to believe he’s on his way to New York to kill Tony Stark”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, it is a CRIME that Jessica Jones got cancelled. Second of all, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Story is coming to an end soon, and I have a few things planned, I hope you'll all like it! <3 Remember to leave a comment!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part One of Two
> 
> Beware of the small, poorly written sex scene in this chapter.

Tony opened his eyes slowly, blinking and turning his head slightly to the side, as if to escape the very bright light that shone in the room. There was a sharp ringing in his ears that made his head hurt and his mouth felt odd, like someone had stuck a bunch of cotton in it. He shook his head, trying to bring some clarity to his clouded mind. And then, he heard a chuckle. Tony raised his head, following the sound, still very much confused with the whole situation. He gulped when his eyes finally met the eyes of the man standing before him.

“Hello, Anthony”.

* * *

_Four days before._

He felt strong arms encircling his waist and closed his eyes, smiling.

“You look absolutely delicious”, Steve whispered in his ear, softly biting the lobe. He ran his lips down Tony’s neck, his teeth lightly grazing the skin as he did so.

“You’re insatiable, have I told you that?”

He smiled, turning the smaller man so they could be face to face. He took a step closer, pressing his whole body against Tony’s, and lowered his head until their lips were only inches apart. Tony moaned softly when he finally noticed Steve was only wearing a towel around his waist and nothing more.

“You may have, once or twice. Would you like me to stop, love?”

He smiled. “Not on your life, soldier”, he whispered before meeting his lover half way, slamming their lips together in a desperate kiss. Tony slowly ran his hands down Steve’s chest and played a bit with the hem of the towel while they thoroughly explored each other’s mouths. The mechanic finally broke the kiss, running his lips down Steve’s chin and neck. He untied the towel around his lover’s waist and smiled wickedly at him.

“Look how hard you are for me, Mr. Rogers”, he whispered in his ear, taking Steve’s hard cock in his hand and pumping it once, making him moan out loud.

“Tony…”

“I want to blow you right here in the kitchen…”, he said, keeping the pace as he stroked his cock, slow and steady, “I want you to come in my mouth”.

Steve moaned again, thrusting his hips forward to meet Tony’s hand. The mechanic kissed him again, a slight peck on the corner of his mouth, and very slowly kneeled in front of him, his wet lips leaving a trail from Steve’s mouth all the way to his waist, before finally taking his cock in his mouth, moaning as he did so.

Steve whimpered and moved his torso forward, both hands going for the edge of the counter, holding it as if his life depended on it. He had his eyes closed and his mouth was slightly open as he tried to breath. Tony smirked when he heard his lover’s whimpers and continued to work, taking Steve’s hard cock until it almost hit the back of his throat before pulling back slowly, sucking and circling the head with his tongue. He did it again and again and again, moaning once in a while, knowing the vibrations drove his lover even more crazy than normal. He felt Steve’s hand on his hair and knew the man was about to come; with a final moan, he took all of Steve’s length as he came hard into his mouth. He swallowed all of it and let his now flaccid cock go, giving it a long lick before getting up. Steve quickly pulled him closer, kissing him, tasting his own come in Tony’s tongue.

“You’re fucking amazing”.

“Oh, I know”, Tony smirked, giving him a final peck on the lips, “I ordered Chinese, by the way, so you should probably change”.

Steve laughed, shaking his head, “What about you?”

“Dinner first, and then I have plans to ride you until my ass is sore”, he said with a wink.

Steve smiled and nodded, taking his towel from the floor and going back to their bedroom to change. Tony stood there, biting his own lip as he watched his lover go, admiring his bare ass and imagining all the things he’d do to Steve that night. He smiled and took a deep breath to calm himself, and his cock, down. There would be plenty of time for that later.

There was a knock on the door. Tony frowned, putting the glasses and the wine on the coffee table, before going to the door. It couldn’t be the delivery man; he always rang the doorbell downstairs and waited until someone let him in. _Maybe it’s Bucky_ , he thought to himself with a smirk, _maybe he finally learned to knock before opening the door_. It was a lesson the man had learned the hard way, after using his key and walking in on a very naked Steve fucking Tony against the couch. Needless to say, Bucky refused to eat in the living room any longer.

Tony walked to the door and opened it with a smile, ready to tease Bucky about the knocking. His smile suddenly disappeared as he looked into the face of Obadiah Stane.

“Long time no see, Anthony”, he said with a smirk, “What a lovely place you’ve got here”.

“What are you doing here?”

Stane sighed, shaking his head, “Is that any way to greet your godfather, my boy?”

“I’m not your boy. I’m going to ask you this one last time, Stane. What the hell are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to you, of course, to discuss business”.

“I don’t have anything to say to you. You want to discuss business? Talk to my lawyer”, Tony said and moved to close the door on his godfather’s face.

Stane, however, slammed his hand on the door, keeping it open. He glared at Tony and puffed his chest, making Tony take a step back. His heart was beating faster than ever before.

“Listen here, you spoiled little brat. I don’t know what you think you’re doing bringing up this will mess again, but I can tell you right now, Anthony, it won’t do you any good. That will is as legitimate as they come”, his face suddenly twisted into a cold smile, “Your father knew exactly who you were, Anthony. A good for nothing, useless brat who couldn’t possibly be the leader his company needed. He knew you would destroy his legacy, that’s why he left the company to me”.

Tony knew he had to be strong, but it was hard. Stane knew him too well. He knew exactly what to say, what buttons to push to turn Tony into a scared little child filled with insecurities. He could feel his hands slightly shaking as he tightened his grip to the doorknob, his lips trembling as he thought of something to say… and then, he saw it. From the corner of his eye, he saw a figure. Steve. He was standing nearby, close enough to put himself between Stane and Tony if needed be. _I’m not alone_ , he thought to himself. He closed his eyes for a moment and, when he opened them again, he was in full armor and ready for the fight. He smiled at Stane.

“How’s the company, by the way?”

Stane was taken aback by the sudden change in Tony’s demeanor and didn’t answer.

“You don’t have to answer that, Obie. Let _me_ tell you how the company is doing these days… You’re losing clients left and right. You had to make deals with losers like Justin Hammer because you’re desperate. Because you may be a good ‘money man’, Obie, but, without me, you have nothing. Without me, you don’t have state of the art weapons, you don’t have technological marvels that change the world… You’re losing all your contracts because you can’t show them anything new. You’re falling behind and you’re desperate and your last chance to pull one over is to tell the military that the Jericho works”.

Stane stayed silent, glaring at Tony. The mechanic, however, continued to smile at him. He took one step forward, standing tall in front of his godfather.

“Well, guess what, Obie. I know my value. I know that will is fake. And I will take back _everything_ that you took from me. My company, my house, my money… And when I’m done with you, you’re going to spend the rest of your life in jail and no one will even remember your name”, he said in a low tone, taking yet another step forward, making Obadiah take a step back.

“You don’t know who you’re messing with, boy”, Stane replied, trying to sound menacing, but looking clearly stunned after Tony’s little speech, “You don’t have what it takes to win this fight”.

Tony smiled again. “I guess we’ll see about that. You ever come here, or anywhere near me, again and I’ll have you arrested for harassment. Have a good day, Obie… You know, while you can”.

And with a final look, Tony slammed the door on Stane’s face.

He stood there for a minute, breathing in and out, trying to calm himself down. Steve walked slowly towards him and opened his arms, as if inviting Tony for a hug. The mechanic looked at him and smiled with watery eyes before ending the distance between them with a few quick steps, falling into Steve’s arms and felling his body relax as strong arms held him tight and close.

“You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met”, Steve whispered in his ear.

“I was so scared”, he replied, burying his face on his lover’s chest.

“I know, love”, he kissed his hair and tightened his grip, “That’s what makes you so brave”.

* * *

Tony tried to move, but found that he couldn’t. For a second, he thought maybe his legs and hands were bound by ropes, but a quick look down told him that wasn’t the case. In fact, there was nothing holding him down, nothing restraining him, and yet, for some reason, his body would not move no matter how hard he tried.

“You remember this one, right?” Stane said, crouching in front of Tony and showing him a small device.

“You… Bastard…” he tried to say, but his mouth moved in a weird way, making his words sound sluggish and wrong.

Stane paid him no attention. “It’s a shame the government didn’t approve this. There are so many applications for causing short-term paralysis”.

Tony was angry; angrier than he’d ever been before in his life. Here he was, completely vulnerable, having his own tech used against him. He’d felt hatred before in his life, mostly towards his drunk, abusive father, but this… This was a whole new level. His blood boiled inside his veins as he looked at Stane’s smirking face.

“You know, when I had your parents killed”, he said in a light, nonchalant tone, taking great pleasure in seeing Tony’s eyes widened at the confession, “I had a whole different plan for you. I was going to keep you around, be the nice father figure you so desperately needed… After all, you were right about one thing, Tony: you really were my golden goose”.

He sighed and got up, walking from one side to the other, glancing at Tony sometimes to make sure he was still unable to move.

“But then you had to go ahead and start talking about being CEO and about Stark Industries and how you wanted to change things. Don’t get me wrong, my boy, I knew you could do it. I knew you could completely change the company and still bring the money to my pockets, but, you see… I had some really faithful clients that I knew wouldn’t like this whole revamping the company very much. So I had to get you out of the game, Tony, for your own good, your own safety”.

“Fuck you”, Tony whispered, glaring at him.

Stane chuckled. “Come on, now, my boy! I wasn’t happy about it. Do you think I wanted to give up my golden goose? I didn’t! You gave me no choice! But then… You had to go and put that stupid code on the Jericho and make everything harder than it had to be. That’s so like you, Tony, always making things harder for me”, he said, shaking his head, “So, here’s what’s going to happen, okay? You’re going to give me the code for the Jericho”.

“Or what?” Tony asked defiantly, “You’ll kill me?”

“Oh, no, I’ll kill you either way. If you don’t give me the code, I’ll make a quick call to my guy, same one who killed your parents for me, and have him shoot your precious little boyfriend right between the eyes”, Stane said calmly.

“Leave Steve out of this”, he demanded in a firm tone.

Obadiah turned around and smiled, shaking his head. He started talking again, but Tony was no longer listening. He was looking at his feet and, although he couldn’t exactly see his toes, he knew they were moving. He was regaining movement. He tried not to let his face show the relief he felt in that moment. _Just a little bit longer_ , he thought to himself, turning his attention back to Stane, _just a little bit longer and I’m free._

“Come on now, my boy!” Stane exclaimed, turning back to face his godson, “You don’t have much of a cho…”

But he never finished. Tony winced when he heard the shot, thinking maybe Obadiah had finally grown tired of the whole conversation and decided to kill him right there and then, but then he remembered… He hadn’t seen a gun on his hand before. Obie took a step back and looked confused, raising his hand and putting it on his chest, where the blood began to stain his white shirt. He fell to his knees and took one last look at Tony before crumbling down on the floor. Tony watched, horrified, as he coughed and gasped for air. The shooter still had his gun pointed at Stane. He walked slowly towards him and Tony with a determined expression on his face.

Stane looked at him with wide disbelieving eyes, “You…”

The shooter didn’t wait for another word. He shot him two more times, right in the head. Tony turned his eyes away, feeling his stomach turn at the sight. Then, he looked back at the shooter, who was now pointing the gun at him.

“Good to finally meet you, Stark”.

* * *

_Two days before._

The table was covered with boxes of food and beverages. There were dumplings mixed with Kung Pao Chicken, slices of pizza, buckets of fried chicken and sushi. Tony watched, fascinated, from the kitchen as Steve and the rest of the gang dug in, eating a bit of this and a bit of that.

“Savages, all of them”, Natasha whispered as she walked behind him towards the fridge to get a beer.

Tony snorted. “I’m sorry, didn’t I just watch you put a slice of pizza inside a taco shell and eat it?”

“Don’t knock it until you try it”, she replied with a wink.

They walked together to the living room, where Natasha immediately sat on Bucky’s lap. Tony gave Steve one of the beers he was carrying and sat down beside him, accepting a peck on the lips as thanks.

“So”, Clint said with his mouth full of pizza, “What’s the mission status?”

All heads turned to Tony. He struggled a bit with his pocket before taking out a small flash drive.

“That’s it?” Bucky asked, incredulous.

“Yep. Bigger is not always better, you know”.

Bucky snorted. “Is that what you tell Steve right before sex?”

Steve frowned and opened his mouth to retort, but Tony shushed him with a hand gesture and a roll of his eyes.

“The program is inside this flash drive”, he turned to Natasha, showing her the device, “All you have to do is insert it in a USB port and it will do all the work for you”.

“I don’t get it”, Sam said, “I thought your AI had an in. Why can’t he hack the computer?”

“The computer Obie uses is a private one. It doesn’t have a connection to the internet and it’s not connected to the other company computers. JARVIS only found out about the weapon deals because Pepper hid a camera inside Obie’s office”.

“Can’t we use the footage as proof?”

Coulson shook his head, “We could, but it wouldn’t do us any good. Stane could come up with a thousand different excuses for why he had those documents in his possession”.

“We’d also have to wait for him to open all those documents right in front of the camera. It’s just not practical”, Tony completed, “Not to mention… Obie is a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them. He most likely has different kill switches to make sure everything disappears if the authorities are alerted”.

“We need the documents”, Natasha confirmed, putting down her beer, “They’ll have dates, timetables, names… That’s what we need”.

Sam and Clint nodded.

“So, the charity ball is in two days. I already talked to Reed and asked him to talk business with Stane, to keep him occupied”, Steve said, playing with Tony’s hand as he spoke, “Greg and his men are going to be there, just as a precaution”.

“Greg?” Tony asked, confused.

“Our friend from the FBI”, Bucky replied with a grimace, remembering the last time he brought that particular subject up. Tony, however, didn’t seem to be affected by the memory at all, “They’re going to stand by, in case Stane finds out and tries to make a run for it”.

Tony got up and took a step closer to the coffee table, taking all of the remaining boxes and putting them on the floor around it. The others stared at him, unsure of what was going on, until he put one hand on the glass part of the table. A soft, blue light emanated from it and then, with practiced ease, Tony pulled his hand up, making a hologram of Stark Tower appear right there, on the table.

“Holy shit”, Sam whispered with wide eyes.

“I kind of upgraded the furniture”, Tony said with a shrug while Steve smiled like a fool behind him.

“Man, I don’t even have the new Xbox…”

“Focus”, Natasha said in a loud tone, making Clint cross his arms in annoyance, “You can all gawk at the pretty toy later”.

“Did you just call my highly advanced hologram technology a toy?”

Natasha merely shot the mechanic a blank stare, making him roll his eyes.

“Fine. Focus. This is Stark Tower. JARVIS told us that Stane didn’t change the original design, so this right here is an exact replica, with every room, every entrance and every exit”, he began talking, pointing at the hologram.

Tony put his hands together and then pulled them apart, making the tower bigger and its rooms more visible.

“JARVIS can control pretty much the entire building, from the lights to the elevators. He’ll make sure the security cameras won’t be a problem to you”, he said to Natasha, who nodded, “You’re going to enter the building through this door right here, on the side. The only people who use this entrance are the delivery men and maintenance crew, so it will be deserted. Pepper will be waiting for you there, to open the door for you and take you to the service elevator”.

Once again, Tony moved his hands and, with a snap of his fingers, a red line appeared on the hologram, showing everyone the exact path Natasha would have to make.

“You’re going to take the elevator to the tenth floor. There are two security guards who watch that floor; JARVIS has already given us their entire route, so it will be easy to avoid them. You’ll take the main elevator to the sixty third floor, where Stane’s office is located. And that’s where it gets tricky”.

He zoomed in on one of the corridors, showing two small figures. “Meet Jack Rollins and Brock Rumlow. Stane hired them a week ago and they’re not in SI’s payroll. And it gets worst…” Tony looked at Steve with an apprehensive look. “They work for HYDRA Corp”.

Bucky huffed and was ready to say something, but Natasha beat him to it. “How are we going to get past them?”

“JARVIS will use his access to the tower to lead them away. You know, turning lights on and off, making the elevator go crazy, messing with the computers, the whole ‘Paranormal Activity’ shebang”, Tony explained, “And with them away, Natasha can get into Stane’s office”, he pointed at said room in the hologram, “and get the documents we need”.

“Sounds easy enough”, Natasha replied with a very serious look on her face.

Bucky snorted and then yelped in pain when the red head gave him a sharp jab right on his side.

“So… We can do this, right?” he asked with a worried look, “I mean, we could just call off the whole thing”.

“No way”, Clint replied, vehemently shaking his head, “We’re not giving up, Tony! I mean, we’re already half way!”

“Matt thinks that we have a real chance with the will, sweetheart”, Steve said in a soothing tone, getting up and hugging Tony from behind.

“And Jones told me she has a lead. She’s going to get it checked out soon”, Natasha offered with a nod.

“We’re going to bring him down”, Bucky promised with a determined look, making Tony smile and nod.

“Ok”.

“To fucking up Stane”, Clint exclaimed, raising his beer.

Everyone else quickly followed, repeating the words amidst laughs.

Steve softly kissed Tony’s neck.

“We’re bringing him down, sweetheart”, he said in a whisper, “Trust me”.

Tony turned in his arms and kissed him, making everyone else boo them and make gagging sounds. He paid them no mind, smiling up to his partner.

“I do. I trust you”.

* * *

“I’m afraid I’m in a little bit of a disadvantage”, Tony replied, trying not to look as terrified as he felt in that moment, “because I don’t think I know you”.

The man smirked and said, with a heavy accent, “I’m the man your family destroyed. And now I destroy you”.

He was about to pull the trigger when suddenly the lights became unbearably bright, blinding him. He hide his eyes with the same arm that was holding the gun for a quick second before extending it again and shooting. But Tony did not wait. Finally able to move, although not with as much agility as he usually had, he rolled out of the way just as the bullet hit the desk that had seconds before been serving as a backrest. He thanked JARVIS in his head and considered his options quickly: Whoever the man was, he was between Tony and the elevator; there was another one, however, on the other side of that floor. Determined, Tony got up and made a straight line for the long corridor filled with offices. He heard the man shouts and another shot fired, thinking _someone_ inside the building had to have heard it too. He ran as far as he could, but his body was still weak from the paralysis, still not quite responding to Tony’s commands the way it should.

 _I won’t make it_ , he thought to himself, hearing the footsteps behind him becoming stronger, _I won’t make it_. Suddenly, all the lights went out. It was pitch black inside. _JARVIS_ … Tony seized the moment and entered one of the offices, hiding himself between the wall and a big filing cabinet.

“I know you’re here, Stark”, the man shouted, “You die tonight”.

Tony whimpered softly when he heard the loud noise of something being thrown on the ground. He didn’t have a cellphone, he didn’t have a weapon. He had nothing to protect himself. All he could do was hide and run, like an animal trying to escape a hunter. _Steve must have noticed I’m missing by now_ , he told himself, trying to remain calm, _he’ll come for me._

_Please, Steve… Find me!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay, guys. I hope you all like this chapter. I'm still trying to decide if I'll post part two before updating my other fics or if I should update the other two first and then come back. But don't worry, I'll try to be faster this time lol
> 
> Leave comments and kudos, please! Let me know what you think!!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two of two.

_Charity Ball, four hours earlier._

 It had been a long time since Tony had stepped on a red carpet, but, for some reason he couldn’t quite understand, it felt… right. When they had first decided to attend Reed’s Charity Ball, he’d felt nervous and insecure, but now, walking side by side with Steve, wearing a tuxedo made especially for him, he couldn’t help but feel like he belonged there. The flashing cameras and the screaming paparazzi did not faze him at all, on the contrary, it all felt natural, like he was coming home after a long, horrible vacation.

“You look relaxed”, Steve whispered in his ear, sounding pleased.

“I spent all my life in the spotlight”, Tony replied, squeezing Steve’s arm as they neared the end of the red carpet and climbed the steps towards the entrance, “I never really liked it. Not so much because of the attention, because, if I’m being honest, I love being the center of attention”, he laughed under his breath”, but the scrutiny, the judgment… It was tough growing up like that”.

“I can’t imagine what that was like”.

“It’s weird, really. Even though I hate all this, it feels like I’m finally home”.

“It’s not weird at all”, Steve said, smiling down at him, “This was your life, before, your whole childhood. It’s normal to feel like that, because all of this is familiar”.

“I guess”, Tony replied with a sigh.

As they entered the decorated hall, Doctor Reed saw them and waved, softly touching his wife’s arm to get her attention then pointed at Tony and Steve. She excused herself from her conversation and they both walked towards the couple, welcoming them to the party.

“It’s good to see you again, Steve”, Richard Reed said, shaking Steve’s hand with gusto. Sue did the same.

“Good to see you as well”, he replied before pulling Tony closer, “This is…”

“Tony Stark! Yes, of course. Who doesn’t know Tony Stark?” Reed exclaimed, enthusiastically shaking his hand, “It’s a huge pleasure to meet you again. The last time we spoke, you were talking about creating an Artificial Intelligence. Any luck with that?”

Tony smirked. “Some luck, yeah”, he said, making Steve snort.

“I would very much like your opinion on a project I have…”

Sue cleared her throat, rolling her eyes, “Darling, not here”.

“Right, yes, of course”, he said, shaking his head with a grimace, “I promised I’d behave tonight. No shop talk, you understand”.

“I’m sure you two will have plenty of time to talk about this later”, Steve supplied with a smile, “I have your number. Tony can call you sometime this week”.

“Very well! You won’t regret it, Stark”, he said with a wink before allowing his wife to pull him towards another couple that had arrived, waving at them as he went.

Steve and Tony walked around, talking to some people, drinking some champagne and discreetly looking around for Obadiah. They saw Bucky standing at the bar with Sam. They raised their glasses when their eyes met, as if saying hello, and went back to their conversation. They looked quite natural, just two men talking and drinking, but Tony knew them well enough now to know that they were focused on finding their target. He was starting to wonder if Obadiah had not shown after all, when he heard a voice behind him.

“You look as handsome as I remember, Tony”.

The couple turned around and stood there, face to face with not only Obadiah, but also Tiberius Stone. Tony knew that he should be scared right now. After all, he was looking in the eyes of the man who most likely had his parents killed, who had stolen everything from him without a second thought. But he wasn’t scared, not anymore.

“You, on the other hand, definitely let yourself go, Tiberius”, Tony replied, without so much as glancing at his ex, his eyes focused on Obadiah.

“You wound me, sweetheart”, he replied, feigning hurt. He extended his hand, ready to touch Tony’s tie, but was stopped by Steve, who grabbed his hand midair with such force that Tony was sure he’d break it.

“Keep your hands to yourself”, Steve growled, forcefully pushing his hand away.

“Boys, boys, let’s not make a scene”, Obadiah said with a fake smile on his face, “We’re in public”.

“We have nothing to discuss, anyway”, Tony replied, “Come on, Steve”.

“Enjoy the party, my boy”, Obadiah said, observing the couple as they walked away.

Tony waited until they were far enough before turning to Steve, “Do we tell Natasha the mission is a go?”

“Already did it”, a voice exclaimed from behind him, making him jump.

“Jesus Christ, Barnes, get a bell or something”.

Bucky had a plate full of various _hors d’oeuvre_ and looked completely relaxed, stuffing his face.

“Sorry”, he said with his mouth full, “Didn’t mean to scare you”.

“Gross”, Sam chimed in, rolling his eyes, “We’ll be around if you need us. You two try to have fun”.

And try they did. For the next hours, Steve and Tony mingled. They talked to various celebrities about the most mundane things; they talked about business and about the donations made that night. At one point, Tony had been introduced to Dr. Bruce Banner and they’d had promptly started a discussion about something that Steve didn’t understand in the slightest. He stood there, beside Tony, as they talked. Even though he felt completely lost, he couldn’t help but smile at his partner’s happiness. He was so excited, so enthralled by the subject that Steve could not find it in him to separate the two scientists. He listened for a while before excusing himself to get a drink.

Steve let his mind wonder as he waited for the bartender to finish his order. He pictured a house, maybe somewhere outside the city, with a big basement that Tony could transform into a workshop; a big kitchen, too, where they could exchange kisses as they cooked. He smiles just thinking about it. A big yard would be nice too, big enough that the kids could run and play. Kids… God, Steve was already thinking about kids. He shook his head, but couldn’t keep the smile off his face. He didn’t know if Tony wanted them, they hadn’t even discussed it, but it was a nice thought. A family… with Tony. He couldn’t wait.

The bartender woke him from his daydreams, pushing his drink towards him. Steve picked it up and walked back to where Bruce and Tony were talking. He frowned when he saw Dr. Banner standing there, alone.

“Where’s Tony?”

Bruce looked up from his phone. “Oh, he had to go to the bathroom”.

“When was that?”

“Uh, ten minutes ago? Is something wrong?” But Steve was no longer listening. He left his drink in a nearby table and started running towards the bathroom.

“Steve!”, someone called from behind him. Suddenly, Bucky and Sam were there, jogging alongside him.

“Tony went to the bathroom ten minutes ago”.

Sam and Bucky exchanged a look. “We’re on it”, Sam said, nodding to Bucky, “We’ll check the other bathrooms, meet us back at the entrance”.

They quickly parted ways. Steve ran to the nearest bathroom, opening the door with more force than necessary, frantically looking around.

“TONY?” He exclaimed, opening the stalls. The men yelped and screamed, telling Steve to fuck off, but he paid them no mind.

His phone rang. He picked up on the first ring.

“Tony?”

“Steve”, Bucky said on the other side of the line, “I’m in the bathroom closer to the entrance. Get your ass in here, we have a problem”.

* * *

The lights were still out. Tony could still hear the man shouting in the corridor, but the voice was slowly getting further away. He needed a plan. He needed to get the hell out of there, somehow. _I have a goddamn IQ of 227, I can find a fucking way to get out of this fucking building,_ he thought angrily to himself. He slowly put his head out, trying to listen to the man’s steps or screams. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. _Okay, plan, I need a plan_. He put his head back, completely hidden behind the cabinet, and closed his eyes, trying to visualize the whole building in his mind. The elevator was too far away and he would probably run into ‘crazy man with a gun’ if he tried to get there. The stairs were a closer and safer option. He could run down a few floors and then take the elevator all the way down. He could do this. He just needed to run down the hallway, pass his godfather’s dead body, turn right, run a bit more and he’d get to the stairs. _Easy_ , he thought to himself. Even though he was scared, Tony knew he had to try. There was no other choice. And so, with a deep breath and hoping to a God he didn’t quite believe in that everything would turn out okay, he left his hiding spot and, as slowly and silently as possible, made his way out of the room and into the corridor. He looked both ways before running and hiding behind the secretary’s desk. _I can do this_. He took a deep breath and was ready to make a run for it when he heard a shot. And that’s when he remembered… _Natasha!_

He couldn’t leave. Not when Natasha was probably still there. Had he found her? Had he shot her? Cursing under his breath, Tony looked over the desk, but saw nothing. Wherever the man was, he was too far away to be seen. He couldn’t leave. He couldn’t. And so, with a courage that he’d never felt before in his life, Tony got up and ran towards the noise.

* * *

“I couldn’t find any water”.

“Champagne will do”, Steve replied in an angry tone, throwing the liquid right on the man’s face.

Tiberius Stone woke up with a start, spitting the liquid that had found its way into his mouth. He moaned in pain as soon as he moved, touching the back of his head with his hand.

“What the…”

“Where’s Tony?” Steve asked, grabbing the man by the collar.

“Tony? He was here… He was… Someone hit me from behind. We were talking…”

“Why were you talking?” Sam asked, crossing his arms with a menacing look on his face, glaring at Stone.

“Stane told me to distract him. He saw the agents, he was going to make a run for it”, he whimpered again, closing his eyes, “So I distracted him. But someone hit me from behind and… Where’s Tony?”

“That’s exactly what we want to know”, Steve replied through clenched teeth, “Buck, any luck?”

“No. Something must be jamming the signal, I can get a location on his phone”.

“This is all my fault. I promised I would protect him…”

“This isn’t your fault, Stevie”, Bucky immediately replied, “We were supposed to keep an eye on him. We got distracted. I’m sorry”.

Before any of them could say anything else, Coulson appeared on the door, a cellphone on his hands.

“There was a call to the cops from one of the phones in the towers a few minutes ago. Someone named Jarvis reported that Obadiah Stane was in the building with an unconscious victim”.

“They’re in the Tower! Is he insane?”

“He’s not thinking straight”, Tiberius Stone replied from the floor, “He’s… Look, I wanted to get back at Tony for leaving me, but I’m not insane. I don’t kidnap and kill people, alright? But Stane was acting weird these days, like nothing mattered anymore”.

“What do you mean?” Bucky asked, but Steve shook his head.

“I’m going after Tony. Buck, you and Sam stay here and keep an eye on this asshole. Coulson, the agents and I are going to the Tower”.

“Go”, Sam nodded, turning back to Stone as Steve and Coulson left the bathroom, “Answer the question. What do you mean by that?”

“He’s been getting these weird calls lately. Something about a deadline. He gets jumpy every time, scared even. I don’t know what it is, he wouldn’t tell me, but I know it’s bad. It’s gotta be bad to scare a guy like Obadiah”.

Bucky and Sam exchanged a look, both thinking the exact same thing.

“If it’s who we think it is and they’re talking about a deadline…” Sam started saying.

“Then he’s really got nothing to lose anymore”, Bucky completed with a sigh.

* * *

Tony hid behind one of the pillars, his heart beating so fast it felt like it was going to come out of his body. With his back against it, he slowly turned his head, trying to see what was happening, assessing the situation to come up with a plan. The man was standing over a body. Tony bit his lip, relieved when he saw it was a middle aged man and not the familiar red headed woman, and then feeling like an asshole immediately after. This wasn’t Natasha, but it was a person; someone who didn’t deserve to get caught on the crossfire. Someone with a family, with dreams and goals; someone who was just doing their job.

“Where are you, Stark?” the man screamed, turning away from the body and kicking a nearby chair, “This what Starks do, huh? Hide like cowards! Your father was coward too!”

In a fit of rage, he flipped the desk with a scream. Tony winced, closing his eyes for a second. It was difficult to breath. He had been desperate, not thinking clearly, when he decided to run towards the danger. All he had been thinking about was Natasha and how she could be in danger, all because of him. Now, though… Now he was thinking clearly and holy shit, he was a dumbass. Luckily for him, the man had decided to walk towards the other side of the corridor. Tony sneaked his head out again, watching the man walk away, when he saw it… Someone coming out of one of the offices. Someone with read head. Natasha!

Without thinking, Tony stepped out of his hiding spot and shouted ‘Hey!’, getting the attention of the man, who quickly turned around and pointed his gun at Tony.

“Before you shoot”, Tony shouted, putting his hands in the air, “Before you shoot… I need to know… I need to know who you are. I need to know why I’m dying!”

His eyes were focused on the man, but they flickered every now and then to Natasha, now standing in the corridor, with a surprised look on her face.

The man smiled. “You don’t know? You don’t know who I am?”

Tony shook his head, trying not to show just how scared he was. There was a crazy man pointing a gun at him. The same crazy man who had shot Obadiah in the head right in front of him. _Oh god, I’m going to die_ , he kept screaming at himself inside his head.

“Your father… He destroyed my family. He destroyed us. Stane knew. Stane needed to pay too, but he hated your father and he helped me get revenge. So I spared him, gave him a little while to live. But he needed to pay”.

“What do you mean, revenge?” Tony asked, keeping the man’s attention to himself. Natasha nodded at him, walking slowly and quietly towards the man.

The man took a step closer to Tony, who instinctively took a step back. “Your mother… Fragile, easy to kill. Just little squeeze on neck, that was all it took”, he smiled when he saw the Tony clenching his jaw, his eyes hardening with the confession, “Your father… I had to punch him… Again… and again… and again…” he said, in a mocking tone.

Rage was burning inside of him. He wanted to punch him, to hurt him, to kill him in the worst possible way. He could feel the tears filling his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. He looked over the man’s shoulder and saw Natasha, a few feet away, ready to jump him. She nodded and, in that moment, he knew exactly what he needed to do.

“And now you die”, the man said. Tony moved quickly, ducking behind the pillar while Natasha jumped on the man, her legs circling his waist and holding him in a tight chokehold. The man yelped in surprise and dropped his gun. It fell to the ground with a loud clank and slid on the floor until it stopped right next to Tony, who, without thinking twice, took it and pointed at the man at the same time as he grabbed Natasha by the hair and shirt with both hands, pulling her forward with every bit of his strength, sending her crashing to the ground with a scream of pure fury. He raised his head and looked at Tony, his face red and contorted in rage, and stepped forward, arms extended to grab the mechanic. Natasha quickly hugged the man’s foot, trying to hold him back. And then, there was a shot.

Natasha looked up, surprised, and watched as the man felt to the ground. She stared at the body, lying beside her, and then at Tony, with an arched eyebrow.

“My father made guns. He taught me how to shoot”.

“Right”, she replied, getting up, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Are you?”

“Fine”.

They looked at the body on the floor.

“I don’t even know who he is…” Tony said, looking sadly at the gun in his hand.

“His name is Ivan Vanko. I got a call from Jones a few hours ago. We had a team waiting for him in the airport, but they didn’t find him. Coulson knew too, they were looking for him at the gala. I guess they missed him”.

“Yeah, I’m gonna submit a written complaint about that later”, he replied with a nervous laugh.

“TONY!”

They turned around and saw Steve, Coulson, Pepper and a bunch of agents running towards them. Tony felt Natasha taking the gun from his hands as he stood there, staring at his boyfriend. He wanted to move, to run to Steve, but he found that he couldn’t move.

“Tony”, Steve said, relief dripping from his voice. He engulfed Tony in his arms, burying his face in his neck.

Immediately, Tony collapsed in his arms, sobbing as he hugged his boyfriend back.

“Are you okay?” Steve whispered in his ear, kissing his head.

Tony shook his head. “No… but I will be”.

“Yeah”, he whispered right back, “You will be, sweetheart. You will be”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took me some time to write this, sorry guys! Hope you like it! Next chapter will most likely be the last one!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five years later...

“But how is he gonna come in if we don’t have a chimney?”

Tony could hear Bucky and Rhodey snickering from the table. He turned his head and glared at them, before turning back to finish Peter’s peanut butter and jam sandwich.

“We don’t need a chimney; we have a secret entrance just for him”.

“But if the entrance is secret, how is he gonna know where to go?” Peter insisted with a frown as he pulled on the hem of his father’s sweater.

“JARVIS will stay up and tell him”.

_Indeed I will, young master Peter._ JARVIS’ voice filled the room.

Peter scrunched up his nose, still looking very much worried. Tony picked his son up and sat him on the nearest stool, putting the plate of sandwiches in front of him.

“Sweetheart, you don’t have to worry, okay? Santa has magic! Even if we didn’t have JARVIS to show him the secret passage, he would just use his magic to get inside!”, he kissed his son’s head, “I promise you he’s coming tonight and he’s going to leave you lots of presents, okay?”

Peter looked down at his sandwich with a pensive look and then up to his father again.

“You promise?”

“I promise”.

Seeming satisfied with the answer, the five year old took a huge bite out of his sandwich, pulling his plate closer to his chest when his uncle Bucky tried to steal some for himself.

_“…when former CEO of Stane Industries, Obadiah Stane, was murdered by Ivan Vanko. Although the crime happened five years ago, it is only now that we gained access to the investigation that proves that Stane not only killed Howard Stark, founder and CEO of Stark Industries, and his wife, but also forged a will, stealing the fortune and the company from the couple’s only son and heir, Anthony Edward Stark. It is said, also, that Stane was, at the time, selling weapons to known enemies of the state, such as the famous terrorist organization, the Ten Rings…”_

Tony only realized he had been staring at Christine Everhart when the screen disappeared from his eyes. Rhodey and Bucky looked at him apprehensively, both aware of how much this whole story affected him. He took a deep breath and smiled at his friends, reassuring them. Thankfully, Peter had been so focused on his sandwiches that he hadn’t even noticed anything wrong.

“Uncle Buck, what did you ask Santa for Christmas?”

“Uncle Buck is in the naughty list, Pete, he can’t get any presents”, Rhodey said with a smirk.

“AM NOT!”, Bucky protested, lightly punching Rhodey in the arm.

“No punching, Uncle Buck! That makes you naughty!”

Tony shook his head and smiled at the scene.

_Sir, Mr. Rogers has arrived._

“POPS!” Peter shouted, dropping his half sandwich on the plate and jumping down from the stool, running towards the living room as fast as he could.

Tony was about to follow him when he noticed neither Bucky nor Rhodey moved.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“What, and watch you make out with Stevie? No thanks, we’ll wait here”, Bucky said pretending to gag.

Tony simply showed him the middle finger and walked away, into the living room.

He smiled as he watched his husband and son laughing. Steve had Peter in his arms and was throwing him up only to catch him right after, making him scream in delight.

“Welcome home, handsome! I was starting to think you weren’t going to make it”, Tony said, standing right in front of his husband with his arms crossed.

Steve smiled brightly at him and held Peter on the side to give Tony a quick peck on the lips.

“I’d never miss our first Christmas”, he whispered on his husband’s lips, earning a content sigh.

“Gross”, Peter complained, scrunching his nose in disgust.

They both laughed at the boy as Steve put him back on the ground.

“Can you go tell uncle Buck and uncle Rhodey that I’m here?”

“You just want me to go so you can kiss dad again”.

“That’s…” Steve tried to deny it, but, in the end, merely sighed and agreed, “Yep, that’s exactly what I’m doing”.

“I’ll go… Kissing is gross anyway”, Peter complained before running back to the kitchen, screaming _Pops’ home!_

“Now that we’re alone… I think it’s time for a proper hello”, Steve whispered, capturing Tony’s lips in a long kiss.

Tony immediately closed his eyes, grabbing his husband by his jacket and pulling him closer.

“Missed you”, he whispered between kisses.

Steve smiled, “I missed you too, sweetheart”.

“Bruce and Thor are coming to the party, by the way”, Tony informed him.

Steve frowned. “I thought Thor was going to visit his family?”

“He was. Apparently, his brother, Loki, did something and now they’re not talking, so he decided to stay here”.

“He has a brother named Loki”, Steve repeated to himself, shaking his head.

“You have a friend named Bucky, you don’t get to judge”, Tony replied, making Steve laugh.

“Fair enough. Is everyone else coming as well?”

“Yep. Pepper is bringing Happy, Nat and Sam went shopping for something, can’t remember what, and Clint and Coulson said they will be a little late but they’ll be here”.

“The whole family is coming, then!”

“They don’t want to miss Peter’s first Christmas with us”, Tony explained, sighing, “I still can’t believe he’s ours”.

“Me neither”, Steve said, engulfing Tony in his arms and burying his face in his neck, “Did you see the news today?”

“I did”.

Steve left a kiss on Tony’s neck and stepped back to look him in the eyes.

“Are you okay?”

Tony turned his head and looked at the kitchen, where he could hear Peter’s laugh and Rhodey and Bucky’s loud voices. He smiled and turned back to Steve, pulling his head down until their foreheads touched one another.

“I’m more than okay. I’m perfect”.

They smiled at each other and exchanged one last kiss before walking, hand in hand, towards the kitchen, where part of their beautiful family awaited for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, guys. The story is done. It's over. I hope you guys enjoyed it and I can't wait to hear what you think.
> 
> A very special thank you to Cat__Astrophe, ExistencialCrisis713, QueenE, Tcnystcnks, Ditasitepu35, Annnguyen04 and everyone else who took the time to leave a comment on this story! 💗 Thank you all so much!

**Author's Note:**

> Roses are red,  
> Violets are blue,  
> I like attention,  
> Leave me kudos and a comment.


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